Box Score CLAREMONT, CA. – The Pomona-Pitzer Women's Basketball team ended their three-game losing streak with a 64-45 win over SCIAC opponent Whittier on Saturday night at Voelkel Gymnasium.
Season Impact: With the win, the Sagehens improve to 6-11 overall and 4-6 in SCIAC play.
The Sagehens were led by Madison Quan who put up 14 points, 6 rebounds and 8 assists in the win. Pomona-Pitzer had five players reach double-digit scoring numbers with Emily Church getting a double-double at 13 and 12, Emily Lee netting 13 as well, Kaitlyn Leung with 11 and Kellie Au with her first career double-double with a 10 and 10 performance, career-highs in both points and rebounds.
A good night shooting for the Sagehens from beyond the arc where they cashed in on 36.4% of their three's and shot at 40.7% from the field. Pomona-Pitzer also outrebounded Whittier 40-30 and tallied 10 fast-break points in the win.
Pomona-Pitzer had the three-ball working early in the first quarter as they converted all 12 of their points from three. The Sagehens took an early lead thanks to their three-point shooting, but the Poets came back strong with back-to-back and-one baskets and a layup by Leach to take a 10-6 lead just past midway through the first. The Sagehens ended the first quarter with two three's by Katie Drais and Leung to hold a 12-10 lead heading into the second quarter.
The Sagehens continued to shoot the ball from three and hit on their first two of the second quarter to push the lead to 18-10 and forced Whittier to take a timeout just over a minute into the quarter. Whittier again stared slow but battled back into the game to cut the deficit to 22-19. Pomona-Pitzer had a strong finish to the first half and took a 29-25 lead heading into halftime.
A big moment in the early stages of the second half as Rhe Nae Leach picked up her fourth foul of the game inside the first minute of the third quarter. The Sagehens took advantage of Leach on the bench and after back-to-back fast break threes by Emily Lee, the Sagehens went up 35-27 and forced Whittier to take a timeout with 6:24 left in the third. Pomona-Pitzer continued to build its lead in the third and converted their final two baskets of the third to take a 48-36 lead into the fourth.
The Sagehens came out in the fourth and immediately took their largest lead of the game at 19 points after a layup by Quan to make it 61-42. The defense stepped up for the Sagehens in the fourth and limited Whittier to just nine points while the offense kept their momentum going with 16 in the final 10 minutes of play to snap their three-game skid.
Up Next: The Sagehens will next host Chapman on Wednesday, February 1st at 7:00 p.m.
