WHITTIER, Calif. (Feb. 14, 2009) – While Asha
Jordan posted a season high 21 points and
Stephanie Babij turned in a double-double pushing
the women's basketball team to a 78-63 victory over Southern
California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference foe Whittier College
tonight on the road, the University of Redlands upset the
University of La Verne 58-53 to leave the Tigers alone atop the
conference standings entering the final week of play.
Occidental (18-5, 10-2 SCIAC)started out slow, falling behind
13-6 early on, but quickly changed the tempo, using a 21-0 run to
open up a lead they would maintain throughout the game. At the
break the Tigers held a 47-26 advantage after shooting 64.6% from
the field during the opening stanza. Occidental scored 34 points in
the paint during the first half and limited the Poets to 10.
The Tigers increased their lead to 26 points at the beginning of
the second half, but a 27-13 Whittier run pulled the score within
12 at 67-55. That, however, was as close as it would be as Oxy
cruised to the victory.
Four players reached double figures for Oxy with Jordan leading
all players. Brianne Brown scored 16 and
Dior Williams chipped in 11 while Babij was a
perfect 6-for-6 from the field and 2-for-2 from the line to finish
with 16.
Babij also grabbed a game high 12 of the Tigers' 39
rebounds, of which four were offensive boards (Oxy had 17 total).
Jordan was one away from a double-double, pulling down a game-high
five offensive rebounds.
In addition to their offensive contributions, Brown and Williams
combined for 10 assists and 11 steals. Britinee
Yasukochi also supplied five assists, which was second to
Brown's six.
The Poets (15-8, 7-5 SCIAC) were led by sophomore Kourtney Zilbert who
scored a team-high 20 points on 9-of-12 shooting. She grabbed five
rebounds and had a game-high seven steals. Tina Merlino and
Brittany
Sabala also reached double figures in scoring with
17 and 13 points, respectively.
Occidental now leads La Verne by a game and Whittier trails
Redlands (third) by a game to round out the current Top-4.
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps is right on Whittier's heels in fifth.
Oxy will be back in action on Thursday evening in Pasadena,
Calif. where they will tip-off with the Beavers of Caltech before
the season finale on Saturday, Feb. 21 in Rush Gymnasium against
the Leopards. Teams will take the court at 5:00 p.m. prior to the
men's game at 7:30 p.m.
