Box Score ORANGE, CA. – The Pomona-Pitzer Women's Basketball team punched its ticket to the SCIAC Tournament Championship with their 71-66 win over SCIAC opponent Chapman on Thursday night at the Hutton Sports Center.
Season Impact: With the win, the Sagehens improve to 15-9 overall and will host the SCIAC Championship against Whittier on Saturday night.
The Sagehens had four of their five starters reach double digits. Leading the way was Madison Quan who had 19 points, but Emily Church was the standout tonight as she recorded a double-double with 18 points and 12 rebounds. Charlize Andaya tallied 12 while Vanessa Hsia chipped in with 10 in the win.
The Sagehens held the advantage from the floor as they hit on 43.1% of their shots from the floor and hit 30% from beyond the arc. The Sagehens were outrebounded by Chapman 43-35 and the Panthers outscored the Sagehens in the paint 36-32, but the Sagehens forced 15 turnovers and only turned it over nine times.
Chapman got out to a small 11-8 lead early in the game until the Sagehens took their first lead of the game after a Hsia jumper to lead 13-11 with 4:13 left in the first. Chapman retook the lead late in the first quarter and took a 20-18 lead heading into the second. The two teams went back and forth in the second quarter, but the Sagehens stayed ahead late in the first half as Amara Chidom nailed a jumper to give the Sagehens a 35-32 lead heading into halftime.
The Sagehens maintained their small lead over the Panthers in the third quarter until Chapman tied the game at 40-40 with 6:00 left in the third. Pomona-Pitzer went on a big run towards the end of the third and after a Church jumper, took their largest lead of the night at 53-44 with just over a minute to play. Despite facing their largest deficit of the night, the Panthers rallied late in the third and ended the quarter with an and-one at the buzzer to cut the lead down to 51-49 heading into the fourth.
The Sagehens never gave up the lead in the fourth and kept the Panthers out of striking distance. The dagger basket came off of a jumper by Church after a drive and kick by Hsia to put the Sagehens up 63-57 with 1:04 left to play. The Sagehen defense came up with big stops late in the game and Pomona-Pitzer closed the game out at the line to earn their first trip to the SCIAC Tournament Championship game since the Sagehens won their first ever SCIAC Tournament Championship in 2018-19.
Up Next: The Sagehens will next face Whittier in the SCIAC Tournament Championship on Saturday, February 26th at 7:00 p.m.
