LOS ANGELES, Calif.  (Nov. 24, 2009) - The high scoring Tigers, who scored 79 tonight and are averaging 82 a game this season, showed off another side to their game when a stingy first half defense propelled them to a big home win over the rival Panthers.  Chapman has been to the NCAA tournament for the past nine seasons, last year knocking off the Tigers in overtime to advance to the second round.  So even though this was only the third game of the season for both squads, the energy level was very high throughout the contest.

Chapman came out extending their defense all over the floor, their patented pressure defense, which has become a staple under head coach Carol Jue, but this year they faced the duo of Laura Mohler and Britinee Yasukochi who were able to pick apart the defense for one open look after another in the first half.  Up 16-10 Yasukochi found a wide open Gillian Nugent over the top of the press, but instead of driving to the rim Nugent drained a wide open three.  Two possessions later Yasukochi pumped faked an over aggressive Panther defender into the air and drove the lane to pick up a foul, sinking both freethrows, which stretched the lead to 21-10.  The Panthers missed their next shot and Mohler grabbed the rebound, split a Chapman double team, and found Nugent on the wing, who buried another three.  Chapman scored to cut the lead to 12, but then Yasukochi drove the left side line, reversed the ball to Mohler who found Nugent coming off a downscreen that left her open in the corner for her third three of the half.  The lead was now 15, the largest of the game, but what would be easy to overlook is the strong halfcourt defense by the Tigers that fueled their offense.  With Stephanie Babij patrolling the inside along with Katelyn Rowe and Makenzie Brandon, and the on ball pressure of Dior Williams along with Mohler and Yasukochi the Panthers shot a dismal 25.7% from the field, which left them trailing at half time 38-24.

The second half became a track meet, which played into the hands of the Panthers, as Babij, Brandon and Rowe were in foul trouble and played limited minutes.  With Chapman now playing at the tempo it wanted, the Panthers came alive, going on a 16-6 run to cut the lead to 4 with 14:11 left to play in the game.  The lead would stay within 6 points until the 10 minute mark, when Samantha Rossi hit a three from the wing to push the lead up to 9 with 10:21 left on the clock.  Both teams then traded baskets until the 4:47 mark when Mohler took over, scoring 13 of the final 18 points of the game as the Tigers were able to answer every last ditch effort the Panthers (0-3) could come up with. 

Leading the way in the 79-69 victory was Mohler who led all scorers with 19 points.  Brandon pulled down 12 rebounds, matched only by Chapman's Simone Ibbotson who also had 12 rebounds to go along with 14 points, the only double double of the game.  Yasukochi handed out 6 assists to go along with 12 points, Williams adding 10 while the sharp shooting Nugent finished with 13.

Next up for Oxy (2-1) is another home game against Fontbonne University on Saturday, Nov. 28^th with tipoff at 7:30 p.m.