Box Score Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
WHITTIER, Calif. – Junior Allison Lou (Cerritos, Calif.) lit it up Wednesday night off the bench as she led the Whittier College Women's Basketball team to a come from behind 85-75 victory over Cal Lutheran University.
The Purple & Gold followed up their strong win over Willamette with their first Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) victory. They improve to 4-3, 1-1 SCIAC, while Cal Lutheran drops to 1-4, 0-1 SCIAC.
Trailing by 14 with 3:26 to play in the 2nd Quarter the Poets made a push to end the half putting together a 12-1 run covering the final 3:15. Cali Cubel (Oceanside, Calif.) started the run off with a free-throw and was followed by lay-ins from Dallas Martinez (Kaneohe, HI) and Bella Robles (Lompoc, Calif.), and a triple from Lou before ending the run with a pull up jumper from the baseline. This got WC within single digits at 35-32 at the break and that would be all the momentum they would need as they would go on to outscore CLU 28-16 in the 3rd Quarter and 25-24 in the 4th en route to the come from behind victory.
Lou sparked the comeback with 6:36 to play in the 3rd Quarter with a triple and that led to 14 in a row for the Purple & Gold, which included back to back to back three-pointers from Cubel and Daisy Cardenas (Santa Clarita, Calif.).
This put the Poets on top 52-41 and they didn't let up as a pair of lay-ins from Cubel and Teani White (Burbank, Calif.) to end the frame would move the score to 60-51. In the 4th CLU created some pushback getting within three at 66-63 following five in a row. They then made it a two-point game with 4:28 to play after a Natalie Ruhl layup. But after that it was all Whittier with White adding a lay-up, Kellie Ogata (Torrance, Calif.) converting one of two free throws and Lou knocking down a three-pointer. This made the deficit eight and despite adding three free throws within :30 seconds to move the score to 76-71, it wouldn't be enough as Shaeleigh Wright (Long Beach, Calif.) and Cubel would put up layins followed by five free-throws from Cubel, Martinez, and Lou that iced the game.
Cubel led all scorers with 25 points on 7-of-13 shooting to go with four boards and two assists. Lou played 27 minutes and was 7-for-10 from the floor, going 3-for-6 from deep with 21 points, four rebounds, and three assists. White chipped in with a double double of 10 points and 11 rebounds and Cardenas and Martinez each added nine points apiece.
Whittier shot 51% from the field and 47% from behind the arc. They outrebounded the Regals 42-25 and forced 13 turnovers, which turned into 22 points. They also controlled the paint outscoring CLU 32-26 and added 11 second chance points.
Whittier travels for another SCIAC match-up this Saturday, December 7 when they take on the University of Redlands beginning at 4:00pm.
