WHITTIER, Calif. (Feb. 12, 2025) – The Whittier College women's basketball team clinched first place in the SCIAC regular season standings and home court advantage throughout the SCIAC Postseason Tournament with Wednesday's victory over Chapman University. The Poets defeated the Panthers, 65-57.
Whittier currently finds itself in the midst of the greatest season in program history. The only two that can compare is the 1985-86 team that won a share of the SCIAC regular season title, and the 2021-22 team that won the SCIAC Postseason Tournament as the fourth seeded, doing so by winning back-to-back games on the road. Senior guard
Rhe Nae Leach (Moreno Valley, Calif. / John W. North) was a freshman contributor on that team -- an athletic x-factor on defense who could create matchup problems playing alongside players like Teani White '22 and
Lainie James '23. Leach was an excellent complement to those players, both of whom could stretch the floor with outstanding perimeter shooting. Since then, she has blossomed into the SCIAC's premier all-around talent and for a 13th time this season, led the Poets to victory in a SCIAC game.
Leach came up big with 18 points on 7-of-15 shooting despite dealing with double teams from the Panthers for the entirety of Wednesday's game. Although she is the SCIAC's best player in transition, Leach actually got it done, for the most part, from half-court sets, developing a consistent rapport with sophomore point guard
Yaneli Rosales (San Diego, Calif. / Mount Miguel). Rosales dished on five assists, four of which went to the SCIAC scoring leader Leach. However, senior forward
Lorita Salloom (Santa Clarita, Calif. / Saugus / College of the Canyons) would lead all Poets with seven assists, two of which went to freshman forward
Kennedy Perkins (Tehachapi, Calif. / Tehachapi) on successful three-point attempts.
As much as the Poets were able to play within themselves as a team, the Panthers proved to be a tough out thanks to a collective scrappiness on loose balls and their ability to take care of the basketball. However, Whittier did manage to take away one important element -- the three-pointer. One game after they held Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges to just 6-of-22 shooting from deep, the Poets held the Panthers to just 2-of-24 shooting from three in Wednesday's win. On the flipside, Whittier shot a much more efficient 6-of-13 from the perimeter, and when they are able to do that they have proven themselves to be very tough to beat, regardless of what offense or defense the opposing team runs. Even as Chapman created momentum early in the third quarter, the Poets were able to answer effectively behind a 7-0 run to close the frame and put enough wind at their backs to propel them through the game's final 10 minutes.
The Poets still have plenty left to accomplish in the 2024-25 campaign. An unbeaten 16-0 SCIAC season is still in play, and if they can run the table, they would become the first SCIAC team in a decade to accomplish the feat. The last team? Head Coach Kristen Dowling's CMS Athenas in 2014-15. This year will also mark the first time since the 2008-09 season that both men's and women's Whittier College basketball teams will be in the SCIAC Postseason Tournament in the same year.
Dowling and the Poets will next head to California Lutheran University in what is sure to be one of the Poets' toughest remaining tests in the 2024-25 regular season. Tip-off is scheduled for 5 p.m.
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