WHITTIER, Calif. (Jan. 20, 2023) – The Whittier College women's basketball team, spurred on by another double-double performance from junior forward Lulu Salloom (Santa Clarita, Calif. / Saugus College of the Canyons), got back on the winning track on Saturday night with a 64-48 victory over Chapman University in the Graham Athletic Center.
The win is a significant one as the Poets managed to successfully "hold serve" during the busiest seven days of the season to date, and continued their unbeaten run at home.
"Each of us are all dealing with some kind of adversity right now," senior guard Citlalli Gurrola (San Diego, Calif. / Mount Miguel Miles CC | UNLV) said after the game. "The common goal of a SCIAC regular season championship and positioning ourselves where we need to be in the SCIAC Postseason Tournament is fueling us, and is helping us overcome that adversity. I think everyone saw that tonight."
The Poets wasted no time taking it to a Chapman team ready and willing to to give the home team as many different looks as possible. After all, 12 different Panthers saw the floor on Saturday night to the Poets' seven, but that did not stop Whittier from putting on a defensive clinic and delivering a reminder of what has made them a SCIAC regular season title contender in the first place. The Poets outscored the Panthers 21-9 over this stretch, with Leach, along with junior guard Abby Pagila (Oakland, Calif. / Bishop O'Dowd) pacing the home team with six points apiece.
As the game wore on, the physicality began to pick up, forcing Whittier to earn its points at the free throw line. The Poets shot a collective 15-for-16 at the line, with senior forward Lainie James (La Habra, Calif. / Sonora Concordia University Irvine) particularly standing out with a perfect 8-for-8 night at the charity stripe. Meanwhile, all but two Whittier free throws came in the second half, evidence of Chapman's defensive desperation to get back in the game. However, the Panthers never recovered from the tough first quarter the Poets hung on them, and while the visitors outrebounded the Purple & Gold by one, the numbers are skewed by one fourth quarter possession that saw the Panthers record five offensive rebounds. For the most part, Salloom imposed her will on the visitors, earning herself her 10th double-double of the season with a 15-13-4 line. Junior guard Rhe Nae Leach (Riverside, Calif. / John W. North), however, led the Poets in scoring with 17.
Also of note, the Poets made life tough on the Panthers with five different players bearing responsibility for six blocked shots. Among them was Pagila, who blocked just her third shot of the season in a game where she stood out as the only Poet to go wire-to-wire without coming out of the game. As time began to evaporate and the Poets' top players began to find themselves in foul trouble, the home team displayed exemplary patience on the offensive end with long possessions to limit Chapman's opportunities to close the gap. Thanks to some clutch free throw shooting from the likes of James and Salloom, the Poets managed to finish the game on a 6-2 run, putting an exclamation point on a massive win as the team looks to recapture some of the magic they had earlier in the SCIAC season.
With half of the SCIAC schedule in the books, the Poets stand out as one of four SCIAC schools with seven wins to their name. The other three, California Lutheran University, the University of La Verne and Occidental College, are all riding winning streaks of at least four games. Whittier, however, owns a 2-1 record against these three teams, and will hope to keep the good times rolling with all three set to play the Poets on Dave Jacobs Court over the final stretch of the regular season.
Head Coach Roy Dow and the Poets will look to create a new winning run when they travel to ninth-place Pomona-Pitzer Colleges for a 7 p.m. game on Wednesday, Jan. 24.
Follow and show support for your Whittier Poets on Twitter (@WCPoets), YouTube and Instagram (@PoetAthletics)!
