V-Hawks, Tigers Record Victories on Final Day of Tiger-Poet Classic
LOS ANGELES, Calif. (Dec. 18, 2007) – On the second day of competition at the Tiger-Poet Classic, the V-Hawks from Viterbo University took a 72-55 game one victory before the Tigers of Occidental defeated the Wartburg College Knights 72-61 in the nigh cap.
The final game of the tournament proved to be the most exciting as Oxy prevailed with an 11 point victory after the teams took a 30-30 tie into the locker room.
In the first half, a Laura Mohler jumper with 26 seconds remaining, brought the Tigers and Knights back even after Wartburg took a five point lead with 2:03 to play in the half.
The again in the second half, Oxy looked to Mohler again. With 8:45 to play she hit a three-pointer on an assist from Brianne Brown giving the Tigers a 51-49 advantage. Moments later freshman Stephanie Babij made it back-to-back three’s when Mohler fed her a pass.
Just over two minutes to go, Brittany Mally also hit a three, giving the Tigers an eight point advantage. Mally and Mohler seemingly sealed the deal for Oxy when on the next play Mally dove for a rebound and tossed the ball to Mohler on a breakaway for a bucket, drawing a foul. Mohler finished off the three-point play, giving the Tigers an 11-point advantage.
Senior guard Stacie Roshon led the charge with a game high 28 points while Babij recorded a game high 12 rebounds. Eighteen of Roshon’s points came in the first half as she finished the night 7-for-16 shooting and 11-for-13 from the line. Mohler and Brown added 13 and 11 points respectively. Mohler handed out a game high five assists while Brown was a nuisance for the Knights all game with a game high six steals and one block. Mally was next in line for the Tigers with seven rebounds, also contributing eight points.
Wartburg’s Megan Hendricks tallied a team leading 19 points. Elizabeth Campbell poured in 17 while grabbing seven rebounds. Leah Riley shared the team lead with seven boards. The only other Knights player reaching double figures was Samantha Harrington (10). Campbell and Hollee Silvey had four assists apiece.
Occidental improves to 6-1 overall while Wartburg falls to 6-2.
The first match-up of the day was a game full of turnovers (64 total). Viterbo got the best of Whittier as the V-hawks shot a combined 52.8% from the field behind 18 and 16 point efforts from Joni Stanek and Katie Mechling, respectively. Stanek also grabbed a game high eight rebounds, while teammate Katina Mandylaris finished with seven. Kari Thiel led all players with six assists.
Also pulling down seven rebounds, while recording a game leading 21 points, was Whittier’s Rosario Rios-Aguilar. Freshman Kourtney Zilbert reached double figures (13 points) for the Poets as well. Ashley Vierra dished out three assists for Whittier.
Viterbo (5-8) earned a tournament split with the victory, while co-host Whittier College (2-5) got shut out in the tournament.
Earning All-Tournament accolades were Roshon (Occidental), Brown (Occidental), Rios-Aguilar (Whittier) , Vierra (Whittier), Joni Stanek (Viterbo), Katie Mechling (Viterbo), Campbell (Wartburg) and Hendricks (Wartburg).
Occidental will be back in action on Dec. 30-31 at the Tiger-Panther Classic hosted at Chapman University. Tip off for the first game will be at 3:00 p.m. versus Anderson (IN).
