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Whittier, CA— The Oxy women's basketball team was in action in Whittier on Saturday night in a matchup with the Poets. 

The 1st quarter was tightly contested as an Ainsley Shelsta made layup tied the game at 10 after 4 minutes of play. Dara Tokeshi gave Oxy a 3 point lead after knocking down a 3 and then Micah Elegores got in on the scoring with a jumper. 

The Tigers got a little separation in the score when Toni Thompson was fouled on a 3-point attempt and made all 3 free throws to put Oxy up 18-13. Paige Yasukochi stretched the lead to 8 with a 3-pointer and after Whittier responded, Thompson made a jumper to get the score to 23-15 in favor of Oxy after one quarter of play. 

 In the 2nd quarter Oxy's lead got up to as much as 14 points after Thompson converted an and-1 opportunity. Another Thompson made layup had the lead at 16 points and Elegores would knock down free throws before halftime to get the lead back to 16 points after Whittier responded. The Tigers would take a 42-26 lead into the break. 

The Poets put together a strong 3rd quarter to try to start to get back into the game, outscoring Oxy 14-5 in the quarter including a 10-0 run to cut the lead down to 47-40 heading into the 4th quarter. 

After Whittier scored the first basket of the quarter, Dara Tokeshi responded with a big 3-pointer to stretch the lead back to 8 points for Oxy. The Tigers were getting to the free throw line and converting as Michelle Lagunas-Monroy and Micah Elegores both made a pair of free throws to get the lead back up 15 points. 

Paige Yasukochi would knock down a clutch 3-pointer to make the score 62-45 with only 2:43 left in the game. The Poets would run out of time to make a comeback and Oxy would secure their 10th SCIAC win by a score of 64-48.

Toni Thompson played another solid game for Oxy, scoring 18 points and grabbing 12 rebounds for a double double. Dara Tokeshi made two 3-pointers and scored 12 points. Ainsley Shelsta nearly had another double double with 10 points and 7 rebounds. 

Paige Yasukochi hit the big 3-pointer to essentially close the game out and also finished with 8 points, 4 assists, and 2 steals. With the win, Oxy moves into sole possession of 1st place in the SCIAC with a record of 10-3. 

The Tigers will have a big matchup with Cal Lutheran on the road on Wednesday, February 7th at 7pm. The Regals sit half a game behind the Tigers in the SCIAC standings with a record of 9-3 in conference play.