The Right to Represent the SCIAC
Madeline Rose (left) congratulates Gillian Nugent following her fourth consecutive three-pointer to pull the Tigers away from the Poets on Thursday night. (Photo: Tracy Maple)
LOS ANGELES, Calif. (Feb. 27, 2009) – They met at La Verne and the Leopards won. They met at Occidental and the Tigers won. Saturday night the two teams will face off one more time in the Championship game of the 2009 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Post Season Tournament to determine who will move on to represent the conference in the NCAA Division III Post Season. For the second consecutive year it will come down to Oxy and ULV in Eagle Rock, Calif.
While top seeded Occidental cruised to 79-51 victory over Whittier College at Rush Gymnasium on Thursday night the Leopards battled with the University of Redlands, upsetting the #2 Bulldogs 50-48 in the end, earning a chance to play for the automatic qualification (AQ) on Saturday night on Oxy’s campus.
A week ago, when the teams met, the cat fight went down to the end, as did their first meeting of the year, with the home team earning a victory in each game, respectively. Back on Jan. 29 the Leopards pulled off a come-from-behind 65-60 victory in the final minute at the Frantz Athletic Court to break the hearts of the Tigers. Oxy got revenge, though, hanging on for a 57-54 win on Feb. 22, which also clinched the SCIAC Championship for the Tigers.
Thursday night Gillian Nugent exploded for 19 points and hit four consecutive three-pointers to solidify Occidental’s 21st victory of the season. Out in Redlands the SCIAC’s leading scorer, Emily Carillo, paced the Leopards with 12 points.
Three other Tigers and a pair of Leopards also reached double figures in their respective semi-final games. Brianne Brown (15 points, five rebounds), Stephanie Babij (14 points, five rebounds) and Williams (10 points, four steals) highlighted the Oxy effort. Trenecca Jones finished with 11 points and Clarissa Holz tallied 10 points with eight rebounds for ULV. Ashley Paul pulled down 10 rebounds while also contributing six points and three steals and Carillo grabbed seven boards for the green and orange. Occidental sophomore Madeline Rose dished out a season high seven assists.
The Tigers (21-5) led 36-19 at the break and ULV (19-7) held a 23-16 advantage at the mid-way point. While Oxy led by as much as 31 points, the Leopards and Bulldogs kept the game close throughout, never separated by more than 12. Down the stretch ULV held off a threatening Bulldogs offense.
Overall the Tigers shot 46.7% from the field and La Verne finished their game shooting 36% from the field. Occidental grabbed 33 rebounds, La Verne finished with 41.
The teams will get started at 5:00 p.m. on Saturday evening.
Tickets for the event are $5 for adults, $2 for children 12 and under and senior citizens 55 and older and free to Occidental and La Verne faculty, staff and students with current ID cards. The Ticket booth will open one hour prior to tip-off.
