Whittier, Calif. – Freshman forward Alice Timken (Albany, Calif. - pictured) made several clutch baskets down the stretch on her way to a career-high 14 points as the Pomona-Pitzer Women's Basketball team held off a Whittier rally and captured a 66-61 win on Thursday evening at Dave Jacobs Court.

With the win, the Sagehens improve to 3-10 overall and 3-4 in the SCIAC, including a pair of wins over Whittier. The Poets fall to 5-12 and 2-6 in the SCIAC with the loss.

Timken came into the game with 12 points all season (in nine games played), but was 4-5 from the floor and 6-9 from the line for 14 points. More impressive than the total was the timing. After Whittier cut a 19-point Sagehen lead down to four (53-49) with four minutes still to play, Timken hit a jump shot, made two foul shots and added another jumper on three straight possessions to put Pomona-Pitzer ahead 59-52 with 2:30 to go.

After the Sagehens added a basket, Whittier had a three-point play with just over a minute left to make the score 61-55, but freshman guard Juliah Shay Kim (Bakersfield, Calif.) hit two foul shots to stem any comeback hopes.

Pomona-Pitzer broke open a close game in the first half when it used an 11-0 run to turn a 12-10 lead into a 23-10 advantage with 6:30 left in the opening stanza. Senior guard Vanessa Ho (San Francisco, Calif.) made a three-pointer to start the run, and ended it with a three-point play.

After the Sagehens took a 33-22 lead in the break, sophomore forward Maria Weyhrauch (Juneau, Alaska) made back-to-back baskets to start an 8-0 run that pushed the lead up to its largest point at 41-22.

Whittier still trailed 48-31 with just under 10 minutes left, but got the lead back down to nine points (52-43) with 6:19 left on a three-point play from Alex Coon, who also added a foul shot with 5:11 left to cut it to 52-44.  Coon then hit a three-pointer with 4:49 left to bring the Poets within 53-47 with 4:49 showing on the clock.  A Casceal Swaggard lay-up cut the Sagehen lead to 53-49, but Timken answered with six straight Sagehen points to stop the comeback in its tracks.

Four players ended in double figures in scoring for Pomona-Pitzer. Timken had 14 points, Weyhrauch had 12 points and seven points, freshman forward Jenn Okonkwo (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.) had 11 points and eight rebounds, and Kim had 11 points for the Sagehens. Whittier was led by Coon, who finished with 17 points.   

Pomona-Pitzer will be back in action on Saturday when it returns home to face La Verne for a 5 p.m. contest.