Kelly Keene - Women's Basketball

CLAREMONT, Calif. - Points were at a premium on Saturday when Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's basketball took on second-place Whittier, which made Kelly Keene's performance so important. Keene finished with 19 points on 7-9 shooting (4-6 from three) as CMS pulled off a huge one-point road win, 46-45.

The win was the fourth in a row for CMS, which is now 6-4 and tied for third place with Pomona-Pitzer (which visits Roberts Pavilion tomorrow night). During that span, the Athenas have not allowed an opponent to score more than 45 points, defeating Occidental 68-28, Chapman 47-42, Cal Lutheran 73-45 and Whittier 46-45. 

Whittier matched the defensive intensity, though, and would have likely prevailed, were it not for the sharpshooting of Keene. She had two three-pointers in the first quarter to stake CMS to a 10-8 lead, and then shot 4-5 in the second half to score 10 of the 25 CMS points after intermission, as it emerged with a one-point win. She was the only player on either team to shoot over 50 percent from the floor (with more than one attempt), and she easily surpassed that figure at 77.8 percent. 

The 19 points marked a new career-high for Keene, who had her previous high of 15 in the first meeting with Whittier on Jan. 4, which the Poets won 69-63. Her efforts on Saturday helped CMS salvage a key season split, which the Athenas will try to do again on Wednesday night, hosting a Pomona-Pitzer team that edged CMS in the first meeting 80-78 on Dec. 11.