Tigers Battle But Come Up Short

ORANGE, Calif. (Dec. 6, 2008) – In their first game in over 11 days, the Tigers showed flashes of great play and the rust that comes with a long layoff.  Chapman entered the contest with eight games under their belts while Occidental was heading into its third contest.  The consistency of Chapman proved to be the difference, as although the visiting Tigers cut the lead to a mere two possession on a few occasions, they were never able to put together enough to overtake the host Panthers in a 79-59 road loss.

The game was close in the first half, as the Tigers trailed by four with 3:31 left in the half, but Chapman was able to close on a 14-5 run to take a comfortable 41-28 lead into the locker room.  The difference in the first half was not that Occidental couldn’t score the basketball, as they shot 37% from the field and over 90% from the line, but that the Panthers created 20 more shots for themselves in that first period.

Turnovers hurt Occidental all night, as they committed 35 to 17 for the home team, but were able to battle back once again in the second half.  Cutting the lead to just three with nine minutes left, but they went cold from the field and ended up scoring just four more points the rest of the way, as Chapman (6-3) was never threatened again.

Occidental went with a seven man rotation tonight, and that produced four double digit scorers for the Tigers.  Sophomore Madeline Rose, Sophomore Stephanie Babij and Senior Brianne Brown all had 11 points apiece while another Senior, Asha Jordan, had 10 points.  Rose and Babij also did the work on the boards, pulling down eight and seven respectively.  Nicole Hayman led all scorers with 25 points for Chapman.

The Tigers (2-2) will be back in action on Monday, Dec. 15 at 7:00pm as they host St. Elizabeth on Day One of the Tiger Poet Classic.