Box Score WHITTIER, CA. – The Pomona-Pitzer Women's Basketball team came away with the road win after a 64-55 victory over Whittier College on Saturday afternoon at the Graham Athletics Center.
Season Impact: with the win, the Sagehens improve to 5-8 overall and 3-4 in SCIAC play.
The Sagehens were led by Madison Quan with a game-high 20 points and eight assists in the win. Katie Drais added 12, Emily Lee with 10 and Sharon Nejad came off the bench with nine.
Whittier had the advantage in field goal percentage and three-point percentage at 40% from the floor and 41.7% from three, but the Sagehens controlled the boards 36-29 and added 20 points in the paint. The Sagehens also forced 12 turnovers and netted 13 points off turnovers to assist them in the win over the Poets.
Whittier scored the first five points of the game as the Sagehen offense took some time to get going in their road SCIAC contest. An and-one layup from Church followed by a three-pointer by Quan were the only points inside the first five minutes with the Sagehens down 13-6. Some good defense got the Sagehens back into in the first and a Drais three quickly tied it at 16-16 late in the first quarter. The Poets and Sagehens were each able to add one more basket to their total with the two teams tied at 18-18 heading into the second quarter.
Pomona-Pitzer owned the second quarter over the Poets. The Sagehens started the quarter with a big 14-3 run capped off by a Quan steal and a Drais layup to take a 32-21 lead and forced Whittier to call a timeout with just under six minutes to play before halftime.
Pomona-Pitzer kept the pressure on Whittier late in the first half and continued to build their lead in the second quarter. The Sagehen defense only allowed four points in the second as they went into halftime with their largest halftime lead of the season at 40-22.
The two teams went back and forth on scoring in the third quarter with Pomona-Pitzer maintaining its 20-point lead over the Poets. Whittier started to chip away at the lead in the fourth quarter and eventually got the deficit down to 12 points at 60-48 with 3:33 left in the fourth. Despite the Poets outscoring the Sagehens 21-9 in the fourth, Pomona-Pitzer's first-half lead was enough for them to cruise with a win on the road.
Up Next: The Sagehens will next head to Caltech on Wednesday, January 18th at 7:00 p.m.
