REDLANDS, Calif. (Jan. 18, 2024) – Senior guard
Rhe Nae Leach (Moreno Valley, Calif. / John W. North) of the Whittier College women's basketball team has had several big-time performances this year, let alone in past year. However, Saturday's performance against a tough University of Redlands team may have taken the cake.
The Poets went on the road and handled the Bulldogs, 75-61, in the best performance of the season to date for the Purple & Gold. Whittier lit Redlands up for no fewer than 17 points in any quarter, with Leach leading the way while others followed suit. The senior guard scored 34 points, which represents a new career-high while also contributing in other key areas. She pulled down 12 rebounds for her eighth double-double of the season, and came one assist shy of achieving the elusive triple-double. Leach, last year's SCIAC Defensive Athlete of the Year, could now be a prime candidate for the offensive award and is yet to score fewer than 15 points in any game this season, and no fewer than 19 points in SCIAC games.
The senior phenom has multiple ways of getting there, but Saturday saw her flash a new dimension of her game -- the deep ball. Leach knocked down three three-pointers that came at key points in the game and helped cut the Bulldogs off from any offensive momentum they could muster. For as good as Leach looked, she did have some help in the form of senior forward
Lorita Salloom (Santa Clarita, Calif. / Saugus / College of the Canyons). LuLu earned her second double-double in as many games and got found Leach with regularity, as she too came just two assists shy of a triple-double herself.
Salloom's defensive work in the paint caused Redlands to only score 14 points in the paint over the full 40 minutes. Whittier, conversely, had 34 points in the paint, but did work from outside as well, as they shot just under 50 percent from deep for its best perimeter shooting performance in a SCIAC game to date. Senior guard
Kristen Lopez (Lancaster, Calif. / Lancaster / Elmhurst University) had a ton to do with that, as she shot 50 percent from the field in just 20 minutes of action off the bench and knocked down a trio of three-pointers herself to boost the visiting team.
Salloom and Leach's dominance in the paint, both as scorers and rebounders, went a long way to securing Whittier the win, but they were not the only players to see double-digit rebounds on Saturday afternoon. Freshman
Kennedy Perkins (Tehachapi, Calif. / Tehachapi) touched double-digit rebounds for the first time in her career as the Poets outrebounded the Bulldogs, 44-38.
Head Coach Kristen Dowling and the Poets will look to keep the good times rolling when they host Caltech on Wednesday, Jan. 22 at 7 p.m.
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