Box Score Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
WHITTIER, Calif. – The Whittier College Women's Basketball team was knocked out of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Tournament following a tough 71-66 loss to No. 3 Claremont-M-S.
The Purple & Gold see their 2019-20 season come to a close after securing the No. 2 seed in the SCIAC Tournament, while hosting for the first time in program history. The Athenas were a tough match-up edging the Poets for the second straight game finishing the season series 2-1.
Whittier ends the season 17-9, 11-5 SCIAC posting the most wins in a single season since the 2000-01 team who finished 20-5 under the tutelage of Will Morris. Claremont-M-S advanced to the SCIAC Championship game with the road win advancing for the seventh season in a row.
Teani White (Burbank, Calif.) once again went off for the Poets playing 37 minutes, while pouring in 23 points, which included going 11-of-13 from the free throw line. She also added four rebounds and two assists. Freshman Dallas Martinez (Kaneohe, HI) stepped up off the bench when WC needed her and added an 18-point performance with four steals, two assists and three rebounds. Daisy Cardenas (Santa Clarita, Calif.) totaled eight points knocking down a pair of three-pointers and Emily Guerena (Montebello, Calif.) picked up five points, eight boards and two assists.
The Poets got off to a strong start in the opening quarter outscoring the Athenas 14-10. They forced seven turnovers and capitalized as Martinez added seven of her 18-points in the period. Trailing 8-4 across the first six and a half minutes the Purple & Gold finally started clicking on offense with ten unanswered, seven of which came from Martinez capped off with a triple from Cardenas. CMS bounced back strong in the 2nd Quarter with seven straight, converting on back to back three-pointers. This put them on top 17-14, giving them a lead they would hold the rest of the half as they would go in front 25-23 at intermission.
With the game all tied up at 39-39 late in the 3rd Quarter, CMS put together a 10-0 run to close out the period to go into the 4th up 49-39. But the Poets didn't go away as Guerena would knock down a three-pointer to stop the run followed by two free throws from White that closed the gap to six. White continued to keep WC in striking distance with another two free throws at the 3:55 mark moving the score to 59-55, but four straight by CMS would push the deficit back to eight with two minutes to play. Martinez down the stretch would add two free throws and a layup that made it a five-point game and put up two more with :21 seconds to go, but it wouldn't be enough to spark a late comeback as CMS would knock down five free throws to secure the upset.
Whittier finished the game shooting 31.7% from the field and 28% from three-point territory. They held the edge on the glass 38-33, put up 20 points in the paint and turned 13 Athena turnovers into 12 points. They also had 18-second chance points.
