Photo: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

WHITTIER, Calif. (Feb. 5, 2022) – Junior forward Lainie James (La Habra, Calif. / Sonora) of the Whittier College women's basketball team put up one of her strongest games of the season on both sides of the ball in the Poets' 62-52 win over Pomona-Pitzer Colleges on Wednesday night.

James, the two-time and reigning SCIAC Offensive Player of the Week, burned the Sagehens from deep, shooting 50-percent on the night en route to a 21-point performance. The junior's ability to execute on the offensive end also helped set the tone for the game to come, with Whittier opening the game on an 18-3 run. While James accounted for just three of the points, she found other ways to get involved, first by finding senior guard Daisy Cardenas (Santa Clarita, Calif. / Canyon) on an open look from three before Cardenas found her for a three-pointer from the top of the key. Two consecutive steals from senior guard Teani White (Burbank, Calif. / Viewpoint) also proved instrumental in the Poets making life hard on the Sagehens early. Whittier went on to take a 20-10 lead into the second quarter and never looked back from there.

As both teams began to settle into a rhythm that would follow them for the remainder of the game, James' playmaking ability began to follow her to the defensive side of things. Her three-steal, four-block night will go down as one of the very best single game statistical defensive performances a Poet has had all season to date. Two of her blocks came in a third quarter where the Poets outscored the Sagehens 17-5, delivering the decisive blow when James knocked down a clutch three-pointer on a nice find from White. With Pomona-Pitzer opening the quarter with a three of their own, the Poets actually went on to finish the quarter with a 17-2 run in their back pocket heading into the final frame.

Though the Pomona-Pitzer offense began to find its form late, the 25-point lead the Poets took into the fourth quarter proved to be more than enough to secure the victory. Freshman Rhe Nae Leach (Riverside, Calif. / John W. North) chipped in with nine points and eight rebounds to go with a pair of steals and a pair of blocks, while White finished the game with 17 points of her own. Cardenas, meanwhile, was as important to the winning effort as anybody, making her first three treys of the game which helped open things up for James and Leach beneath the basket. Her perimeter defense was also of great use to the Poets tonight, as she joined three of her teammates with at least two steals while helping to hold the visitors to just 29-percent shooting from long range.

The victory evens the season series between Whittier and Pomona-Pitzer, while giving the Poets a game-and-a-half lead on the Sagehens and Chapman University for second-place. One more victory will clinch the second seed for Whittier in the SCIAC Postseason Tournament, opening up a world of possibilities depending on how the field breaks. It would also mark the second consecutive season the Poets have finished the regular season as the SCIAC runner-up.

Head Coach Roy Dow and the Poets' attempt to run the table on the regular season continues on Saturday, Feb. 12 when they travel to the University of La Verne for a 4 p.m. game.

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