Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – It was a solid Saturday afternoon for the Whittier College Women's Basketball team as they rolled Occidental College 61-42 on the road extending their winning streak to seven games.

The Purple & Gold have been red hot the past three weeks extending their winning streak, which started back on December 28.  They are now 12-6, 6-2 SCIAC and currently sit in sole possession of second place in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Standings.

Whittier handed the Tigers their fourth straight loss behind a 34% shooting night, which included a 32% clip from behind the arc.  Despite being outrebounded 45-42, Whittier was able to win the battle in the paint 28-10.  Off the bench the Poets received support with 24 points and picked up 12 points off turnovers.  Defensively the Poets were tough holding the Tigers leading scorer Maylene U. Hughes to just five points on 2-of-11 shooting.  Coming into the game she was averaging 16.6 PPG.     

It was all Whittier from the start never giving up the lead, while holding an advantage as many as 28, which came at the break.  They outscored the Tigers 23-7 in the opening period before taking a 47-19 lead into intermission.  It was a low scoring second half for the Purple & Gold being held to just 14 points across the final 20:00 minutes, but that wouldn't matter as the game was decided early on. 

Thirteen players saw the court with three recording double digits.  Teani White (Burbank, Calif.) led all scorers with a double double of 16 points and 11 rebounds.  She also added four assists and a block.  Daisy Cardenas (Santa Clarita, Calif.) lit it up from deep as she recorded 11 points, seven rebounds, three assists and a steal.  Cali Cubel (Oceanside, Calif.) registered 10 points with four assists and a pair of steals and Emily Guerena (Montebello, Calif.) off the bench put up eight points on 4-of-9 shooting.   

Whittier has the week off before returning to the court next Saturday, January 25 when they travel out to take on Cal Lutheran University beginning at 4:00pm.