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Los Angeles, CA— The Occidental women's basketball team was in action on Saturday afternoon in a rematch with the La Verne Leopards. The Leopards got the best of the Tigers in their first matchup this season in La Verne and Oxy was looking to get a win to move into a tie with ULV in the SCIAC standings. 

Oxy started the game strong with a quick 5-0 run from an Ainsley Shelsta made layup and a Dominique Cabading made 3-pointer. La Verne quickly responded and took a 9-8 lead after making a 3-pointer and eventually had their lead to 14-8 after a made jumper. 

The 1st quarter came to an end with La Verne up 16-11, and the 2nd quarter started with both teams trading baskets. The Leopard lead got up to 7 points with under 7 minutes to go in the half before Ainsley Shelsta had a layup in the paint to cut the lead down to 5. Micah Elegores followed with a layup of her own and Oxy was within 3 points but ULV responded with a 3-pointer to get the lead back to 6 points. 

Oxy struck for a quick 4-0 run to close the half as Gabriela Etopio made back to back layups and the Tigers were only down 30-28 heading into the break. The 3rd quarter proved to be close as well as there were multiple ties and lead changes to start of the 2nd half. Toni Thompson gave Oxy a 33-32 lead after converting one of two free throws with 6 minutes to play in the 3rd. 

La Verne took the lead back at the free throw line before Dara Tokeshi gave Oxy the lead abc with a made layup. Amaia McCoy would knock down a big jumper a the end of the lead to give OXy some separation with a 4 point lead. The Leopards went one of two at the line for their next possession and then Paige Yasukochi made both free throws after being fouled to give Oxy a 45-40 lead after 3 quarters of play. 

The Tigers quickly began to create some distance with their lead as Thompson knocked down a jumper to start the 4th quarter. After a defensive stop, Cabading knocked down a big 3-pointer and suddenly the Tigers were up by 10. The Tiger lead got back up to 10 with a Dara Tokeshi made jumper with 5 minutes to play in the game. 

With 4 minutes to play, Yasukochi knocked down a clutch 3-pointer to give Oxy a 12 point lead and then Thompson made a jumper on the next possession and the lead was 14. After another Toni Thompson made jumper and a 3-point play from Dara Tokeshi the lead had swelled up to 19 points with 2 minutes to play and Oxy had essentially secured their win. 

The final score of the game would be 72-54 Tigers as they secured their 8th SCIAC win of the year and moved into a 3-way tie for 2nd place in the SCIAC with La Verne and Whittier after Whittier's loss to Redlands later Saturday night. 

In the game, Toni Thompson led the scoring efforts for Oxy with 17 points but multiple Tigers came up with big baskets throughout the game. Ainsley Shelsta had another double double in this one with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Dominique Cabading was finding open teammates all game and finished with 6 assists. Dara Tokeshi made 5 of 9 shots to finish with 11 points. 

The Tigers will look to keep rolling as they will take on the CMS Athenas at home in Rush Gym on Wednesday, January 31st at 7pm.