THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (Jan. 16, 2010) – The Tigers were down five points with 4:38 remaining in regulation when senior Gillian Nugent took the Black and Orange on her shoulders, scoring the next nine points, turning the deficit into an advantage before Oxy knocked down four more free-throws to seal a 72-69 victory as Occidental College handed California Lutheran University their first Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference loss of the season this evening at the Gilbert Arena.

With a pair of evenly matched teams on the court, anticipation swarmed around the Tigers and Regals, who were Nationally ranked earlier this season, entering the evening and both teams lived up to the hype in a close battle on the hardwood in the SCIAC showdown.

In the first half Oxy opened a 15-5 lead over the first five minutes, but CLU found a groove and chipped away, pulling back within a point with 9:04 to play in the opening stanza. The Regals got within one twice more, the final time being 25-24 with 5:24 to go in the half, but Oxy quickly used a 7-0 run to build a cushion and they led 37-31 going into the locker rooms.

The Tigers controlled the beginning of the second half, pushing their lead to 13-points, the largest gap of the evening, at 50-37. CLU then put together a 21-4 run over the next eight minutes and took a four-point lead on a pair of free throws from Erica Whitley.

After CLU took a five-point lead on a layup by Donielle Griggs with under five minutes remaining, Nugent caught fire, hitting three unanswered shots in a row including two three-pointers for a personal 8-0 scoring run over the next two minutes and put Oxy up 67-64 with two minutes left.

Nugent cooled down missing her next two shots and Starla Wright finished a layup to cut the CLU deficit to 67-66 with one minute remaining.

The Regals forced a turnover on the ensuing possession and after a timeout found a driving shot for Danika Briggs that just missed.

Nugent was intentionally fouled with 25 ticks left, hit her first free throw and after missing the second Whitley came down and missed a jumper from the right side, but CLU, who thrived off second chance points all game, got two more close looks after back-to-back offensive rebounds but could not net the equalizing basket.

A foul sent Stephanie Babij to the line with 10 seconds to play and she knocked down both, making it a two-possession game as the Regals' got the ball back in their hands. Whitley hit a deep three with three seconds left, bringing CLU to within one for the third time in the final three and a half minutes. With just two seconds to go Britinee Yasukochi followed suit as she made both of her free-throws to ultimately seal the victory as CLU was unable to get he ball down the court to make a quality shot in two seconds.

The Tigers shot 45% from the field and was 44% (7-for-16) from long range and 79% (19-for-24) at the line while CLU shot 42% from the field with a three-point field goal percentage of 21 (3-for-14) and a 59% performance from the line (10-for-17). CLU held a 20-5 advantage in second chance points and 22-10 advantage in offensive rebounds as the Regals finished with 42 total rebounds to the Tigers' 31.

Nugent led all players with 18, scoring five from long range, while Laura Mohler poured in 16 and Dior Williams finished with 11. Babij turned in another double-double with 13 points and a game-high 12 rebounds, five on the offensive end of the court, while tying CLU's Whitley with four steals. Williams added eight boards and two steals. Katelyn Rowe came off the bench to score six points (6-for-6 on free-throw chances) and grab six rebounds. Yasukochi led all players with five assists and Makenzie Brandon handed out four.

Occidental and Cal Lutheran now hold identical 10-4 overall records and 3-1 SCIAC marks. The Tigers will host the Caltech Beavers on Thursday, Jan. 21 at 7:30 p.m. in Rush Gymnasium as Cal Lutheran hosts Pomona-Pitzer the same night.