Babij Comes Through in the Clutch for Oxy
LOS ANGELES, Calif. (Dec. 20, 2009) -Lakeland College came to Los Angeles with a nine game winning streak, and if not for the big second half of Stephanie Babij, that streak would have continued. The visiting Muskies pride themselves on defensive intensity and the Tigers put their defense on display this afternoon as well, as both teams had to work hard on every offensive possession, facing defenses that extended the full length of the court right from the opening whistle. Oxy came up with the bigger plays late, though, edging Lakeland by the final score of 62-58.
What looked like a mismatch early, as Oxy sprinted out to a 7-0 lead, became a battle after a quick Muskies timeout. After the timeout, and a defensive substitution, Lakeland locked down and went on a 9-0 run of their own to knock the Tigers back on their heels. It was a back and forth game after that, with six lead changes, before Oxy stretched the lead somewhat, late in the half. With 1:41 left in the first half, Laura Mohler drove from the right wing and showed some nice body control finishing in traffic after being fouled to push the lead to four, then completed the three point to play to give the Tigers their biggest lead of the half since that 7-0 run to start the game. To no surprise Lakeland answered with four quick points and seemed poised to go into the locker room with nothing worse than a one point deficit, as they secured the rebound after Mohler missed a jumper with seven seconds to play. An alert Brittany Mally and Samantha Rossi quickly double teamed Muskie KC Blahnik, who had started to push the ball up court and then tried to spin away from the double team, but Mally knocked the ball free and fed a sprinting Rossi who scored just as the buzzer sounded. Giving the Tigers a little more breathing room and all of the momentum going into the locker room, but if the first half was any indication, this game was far from over.
Oxy once again came out quickly, changing the offensive sequence to get Babij more involved on screen and roll or screening away and diving to the strong side block, which first opened up scoring opportunities for her teammates but once Lakeland took away the first action Babij began to dominate inside. Scoring 15 of her team high 19 points in the second half, as Oxy took control of the game, pulling ahead by double digits. But the Muskies would not quit, trailing by seven with a little more than five minutes left, their tenacious defense was finally able to fluster the Tigers which led to a 10-2 run and a one point lead for Lakeland with a little over two minutes to play. Which brought up a crucial possession for the Tigers, as they brought the ball up court trailing for the first time in the second half, so the offensive series ended with the ball in Babij's hands at the high post, she spun and drove to the basket, elevating just a split second before Lakeland's Chelsea Coenen could establish position. The ball rolled in as both players tumbled to the ground, the whistle blew and the ref on the baseline emphatically signaled blocking foul. Babij stepped to the line and calmly sinked the freethrow, putting Oxy back on top, but Lakeland quickly came back and ran an isolation play as they once again and tried to exploit their size advantage in the post. But as they spun into the lane Babij came from the weakside and picked up her only block of the game. After that Dior Williams finished off the Muskies, scoring four of the final six points for Oxy, as they held on for a 62-58 home win.
Lakeland's Blahnik led all players with 21 points and 13 rebounds, as the Tiger received a much more balance effort. Babij led the way with a team high 19 points and 8 rebounds, Mohler came up with 10 points and three steals to lead the defense, and Williams did her job pressuring the lead guard all night while still scoring 13 points of her own. Gillian Nugent gave the Tigers a much needed offensive spark against a stingy Muskies (9-1, 5-0 NAC Conference) defense, coming through for 14 points which included hitting four of eight from long distance.
Oxy (6-2) will take a week off before returning to campus, at which time they will begin preparing for a home match up on December 29th with Texas-Dallas, tipoff is at 7:30pm.
