LOS ANGELES — It wasn't pretty, but it's a win nonetheless.

Makenzie Brandon (Seattle) had a season-high 25 points and 11 rebounds and Stephanie Scamman (Northridge) scored eight points and dished out a career-high eight assists, leading the Occidental College women's basketball team to a sloppy 64-49 win over Willamette University in its first game back since Nov. 27.

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 "I think we looked like a team that had taken two weeks off for finals," Occidental coach Heidi VanDerveer said. "We were very rusty, but they played very hard and we knew they would."

Neither team looked sharp or handled the ball particularly well — The Tigers (4-1) and the Bearcats (1-9) combined for 51 turnovers at Rush Gymnasium on Monday. Scamman was the exception, playing 26 minutes without a turnover.

"I'd say Steph is really a starter for us, whether she comes off the bench or not," VanDerveer said, adding that the junior guard is slowly playing her way back into game shape after spending the summer in China. "I think Steph's double digits waiting to happen every game."

Scamman, who can create shots for herself in a hurry, was able to generate lots of offense for her teammates against Willamette.

"I always look for my teammates first because I know if I can get them going, then when they need me to show up, I'll be able to bring in my game," Scamman said. "It creates a team dynamic which is what I always go for."

With 8 minutes to play, Liz Little (Littleton, CO) hit a 3-pointer from the corner that gave Oxy its first double digit lead of the second half 50-38. Willamette made one more push to get the lead to seven with just over 5 minutes to play, then Brandon led a 12-4 run to finish off the Bearcats.

Brandon filled up the stat sheet in good ways and bad, coughing up the ball 10 times to go along with her highs in points and rebounds, maybe forcing the issue at times knowing that she is the go-to player for the Tigers on offense.

"She thinks she has to be the person who gets us going and she does," VanDerveer said. "Then other people have to come to her party."

Throughout the game, the Tigers' bigs controlled the paint.

Elizabeth Messick had 11 rebounds and Brittni Walker (Castaic) had 10, helping Oxy to a 46-32 advantage on the boards. Messick and Katelyn Rowe (Carlsbad) combined for six blocked shots.

Oxy's back on the floor at home against the University of Puget Sound at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, another Northwest Conference school that plays a more controlled style than the Bearcats' frantic pace.

"They're a little more traditional, maybe kind of like us. … They have a couple of big bodies so I don't think the pace of the game will be the same," VanDerveer said. "But they played tonight so they'll have to come back and do the same thing that we did."