Box Score CLAREMONT, CA. – The Pomona-Pitzer Women's Basketball team completed a double-digit comeback to earn a 71-62 win against non-conference opponent UC Santa Cruz on Saturday afternoon at Voelkel Gymnasium.
Season Impact: with the win, the Sagehens improve to 9-8 overall this season and finish their non-conference schedule for the year.
The Sagehens were led by junior Renae Tamura who notched a team-high 17 points in the win. First-Year Emily Church gave the Sagehens a big boost off of the bench with 16 points and nine rebounds while sophomore Amara Chidom had 13 points and sophomore Madison Quan chipped in with nine points and five assists.
The Banana Slugs led a fair amount of statistical categories as they outrebounded the Sagehens 40-37, converted four more second chance points, four more points off of turnovers and committed three less turnovers but the Sagehens held the advantage shooting from the floor at 45.8% from the field to UCSC's 35.5% and the Sagehens shot 25% from three to Santa Cruz's 17.6%.
The Sagehens started out with a tough first half in which they scored just 24 points combined from the first and second quarters. Pomona-Pitzer took an early lead at 10-5 after a pair of Church free throws with 6:40 left in the first quarter, but the Banana Slugs answered with an 11-2 run to take a 16-12 lead with just under four minutes left in the first. The Sagehens scored a late basket to cut the deficit down to two points but Santa Cruz ended the first quarter with a 16-14 lead.
The Sagehens got in trouble during the early stages of the second quarter as the Banana Slugs took a 27-16 lead after a three-pointer with 5:27 left before halftime. Santa Cruz continued to build their lead in the second quarter as they held the Sagehens to just 10 points in the second and took a 38-24 lead heading into halftime.
The Sagehens came out as a different animal in the second half as they combined for 47 second half points. After the Banana Slugs took their largest lead of the game at 16 points at 40-24 with 9:45 left in the third, the Sagehens put together an incredible 19-2 run and took a 43-42 lead after a Church layup with 1:13 left in the third. The Sagehen defense was astounding in the third quarter as they limited Santa Cruz to just six points and forced four turnovers as Pomona-Pitzer took a 46-44 lead heading into the fourth.
The Banana Slugs got close a few times in the fourth but the Sagehens never surrendered the lead back to Santa Cruz. Pomona-Pitzer began to pull away late in the fourth quarter after consecutive baskets by Chidom and a three by first-year Kaitlyn Leung put the Sagehens on top 64-54 with 3:05 left to play.
The Banana Slugs had no answer for the Sagehens' second half defense as Pomona-Pitzer erased a 16-point deficit to earn the win at home.
Up Next: The Sagehens will next travel to SCIAC opponent La Verne on Wednesday, January 29th at 7:00 p.m.
