Box Score Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
WHITTIER, Calif. – For the second time in program history the Whittier College Women's Basketball team has qualified for the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Tournament following a solid 62-49 victory over Occidental College.
Since the SCIAC Tournament originated in 2007-08, the Purple & Gold have only earned a berth once, which came during the 2008-09 season. That year the Poets finished 16-10, 8-6 SCIAC eventually getting knocked out by Occidental College in the semi-finals 79-51.
With the win Saturday night the Poets complete the season sweep over the Tigers, while improving to 16-7, 10-4 SCIAC. They have now won two in a row and 11 of their last 13.
Whittier put Oxy in an early hole following the opening 10:00 minutes outscoring them 19-6, which included an early 12-0 run, seven of which came from Cali Cubel (Oceanside, Calif.). After an Oxy layup that ended the spurt, WC strung together seven unanswered with layups from Emily Guerena (Montebello, Calif.) and Teani White (Burbank, Calif.) that moved the score to 19-2 and they didn't look back. In the 2nd Quarter the Poets continued to pour it on with another 17 points as they led 36-17 at the break. It was a tight 3rd Quarter with the Poets outscoring the Tigers 18-15, but they still managed to increase their lead to 24 with 1:30 to go in the period.
Then in the 4th, Head Coach Roy Dow went to his bench and even though WC was outscored 17-8, it wouldn't be enough for Oxy to complete a comeback.
All 15 players saw action on the court with White leading the charge with a 15-point performance on 7-of-18 shooting. She also added six rebounds, two assists and five steals. Freshman Dallas Martinez (Kaneohe, HI) put together her best performance of the season putting up 15 points as well in 22 minutes of action. She was 5-of-8 from the field with three boards, four assists and three steals.
Guerena also came off the bench and played big minutes totaling seven points and six boards. Whittier shot 46.4% from the field and 27.3% from three-point territory. Despite being outrebounded 35-29 WC won the battle in the paint 40-16, while earning 24 points off turnovers and 12 second chance points.
Whittier has a big week coming up with a road match-up against Pomona-Pitzer on Wednesday, February 19 beginning at 7:00pm. Then Saturday, February 22 they host the University of Redlands during PAC the GAC with game time set for 7:00pm.
