Box Score Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
CLAREMONT, Calif. – The Whittier College Women's Basketball team opened up 2020 in a big way Saturday night stunning the Athenas of Claremont-M-S 69-63 on the road.
With the win the Purple & Gold have now won three in a row and improve to 8-6, 2-2 SCIAC, while Claremont-M-S drops to 7-4, 0-2 SCIAC. The last time the Poets beat the Athenas on the road was back on December 1, 2012 when they won 69-61. With the victory Whittier also snaps a 12-game losing skid against Claremont-M-S. They are now 5-16 against CMS since the 2009-10 season.
"A really significant victory IF we build upon it going forward," explained Head Coach Roy Dow. "As a single game, a quality road win over a conference favorite in January. Definitely a product of our extreme challenging schedule. Our poise, energy, and consistent execution from start to finish was exceptional. Certainly Cali and Teani were special, but Cali has heard me say over and over it takes the whole roster and again tonight we demonstrated a very high understanding of what we were trying to accomplish on defense and offense with many players contributing. We have very competitive young women committed to each other."
It was a big opening half for the Poets who outscored the Athenas 37-27. WC led by as many as 17 coming late in the 2nd, thanks to a 21-10 first quarter, which saw Teani White (Burbank, Calif.) pour in 10 of her 23 points on the night coming on 4-of-5 shooting. The frontcourt duo of White and Cali Cubel (Oceanside, Calif.) combined for 47 of the Whittier 69 points on the day. Cubel finished with a game high 24 points on 8-of-14 shooting.
Whittier used a 13-2 run in the opening period to build its first double-digit lead with a 21-8 advantage. Wrapping up the run WC saw Emily Guerena (Montebello, Calif.) put back a layin, Allison Lou (Cerritos, Calif.) knock down a jumper and Darleen Jae Berberabe (Long Beach, Calif.) convert a three-pointer. CMS was able to cut the deficit to single digits at 21-15 early in the second, but soon after the Purple & Gold would rattle off a 12-1 run, highlighted by a pair of three-pointers from White and Daisy Cardenas (Santa Clarita, Calif.). This gave WC their largest lead of the night at 35-18 with 4:37 to go in the half.
The Athenas were able to withstand that punch putting together back to back to back three-pointers that got the lead back to single digits. But as time expired, Cubel was able to convert a lay-in that pushed the lead back to ten at the intermission.
Out of the break CMS was again able to get within six at 41-35, but again the Poets would weather the storm stringing together six in a row that gave them a ten point lead going into the 4th.
A pair of layups from Cubel and Guerena would jumpstart the fourth quarter that pushed the lead back to 14. But again CMS would battle back with eleven of the next twelve points that got them within four with 4:42 left. Cubel stopped the run with a layup at the 4:25 mark and Shaeleigh Wright (Long Beach, Calif.) would knock down two free throws a minute and a half later that kept it a seven-point game. The big shot on the game came with 1:46 to play from White who knocked down a three-pointer that pushed the advantage back to double digits, which WC would hold, despite being outscored 7-3 over the final :48 seconds.
Along with her 24 points, Cubel added three rebounds, two assists and five steals. Bella Robles (Lompoc, Calif.), despite being held scoreless was able to haul in four rebounds to go with a steal and four blocks. Guerena came off the bench to post eight points and five rebounds and Lou registered two points with four dimes and four picks.
"Tonight was a big win for us," Cubel stated. "We earned that win and the hard work we put in really showed this evening. We are just scratching the surface of what we can really be, and I couldn't be happier to be a part of something this special!"
Turnovers proved costly on the evening for CMS who coughed the ball up 21 times, 15 of which came in the opening 20:00 minutes allowing Whittier to capitalize scoring 17 points off of them, eight of which came on fast break lay-ups. Whittier finished the game shooting 44.4% from the field and 33.3% from behind the arc. Despite being outrebounded 39-24 they managed to win the battle in the paint 36-24.
Cardenas mentioned after the game "everyone on our team works for each other and pours their heart out on the court, and that allows our team to be successful. It's good to know that when someone is subbing in the game that our energy isn't going to drop. Everyone sacrifices for their teammate and plays for the name on the front of their jersey!"
Whittier gets back to the court this Wednesday, January 8 when they return home to the Graham Athletic Center to host Caltech beginning at 7:00pm.
