CMS Women's Basketball Ousts Whittier 75-55 On The Road to Clinch 11th Straight Win

CLAREMONT, Calif. - CMS women's basketball led by as much as 35 points with :06 seconds left in the third quarter. Maya Love paced all scorers with 15 points, Corinne Bogle and Lindsey Cleary scored 12 points apiece as the Athenas rout the Poets at Whittier 75-55 on Wednesday night.

The Athenas improve to 15-2 overall and 7-1 in SCIAC play with their 11th consecutive win. The Poets fall to 7-8 overall and 4-4 in SCIAC play with the loss. CMS moves into a first-place tie with Pomona-Pitzer with the victory and holds the tie-breaker with its 85-74 victory at the Sixth Street Rival on Dec. 5. 

Love shot 6-10 from the field and made 3-4 from the free-throw line, alongside five rebounds to pace the scoring leaders which featured three Athenas in double-digits. Bogle shot 5-9 from the field including 2-4 from three-point range to post 12 points, and Cleary finished 4-6 shooting, including 1-1 from three-point range and 3-4 from the free-throw stripe for 12 points as well. 

Off the bench, Kate Parrish scored eight points on 2-3 shooting and 4-4 from the free-throw stripe and grabbed five rebounds to tie Love for the team-high in boards. Lauren Longo scored six points on two three-pointers, and Gloria Bates added five points on 2-2 from the field over 12 minutes off the bench. 

The Athenas ended the first quarter with a 19-11 lead and shot 63.6% (7-11) from the field for the 10 minutes. On the other hand, the second quarter was sharply in favor of CMS (28-10) as it opened the frame with a 12-4 run stretching the advantage to 31-15 at the 6:12 mark of the quarter. During the run, Bogle sank two three-pointers Love and Bates scored two points apiece and Ellery Koelker-Wolfe drained two free-throws to extend the lead to 16 points. 

CMS held its ground defensively limiting Whittier to only five points until the 1:51 mark of the second quarter and allowing just 10 points in the frame collectively. The Poets shot 4-10 (40.0%) from the field and committed five turnovers in the second stanza.

The Athenas held a 47-21 lead at the half after 28 second-quarter points and then limited the Poets to eight points in the third quarter to coast to their 11th straight win 75-55. Love scored seven of her team-high 15 points in the third quarter, and Whittier managed just three made baskets (13 shot attempts) in the third stanza (23.1%) with no Poet scoring more than four points. 

Whittier was led by Monica Hanna's 11 points (5-14) and Allison Lou's 10 points (4-4) off the bench but they marked the only scorers in double-digits for the Poets. Whittier shot a combined 36.8% (21-57) from the field for the game. 

Kellie Okamura added three points on 3-4 from the free-throw line, Flora Durgerian scored four points on one three-pointer and one made free-throw. The Athenas finished with three scorers in double-digits for the second time in the last three games and shot 51.1% (24-47) from the field including 8-18 (44.4%) from three-point range and 19-26 (73.1%) from the free-throw line for the game. 

The Athenas will be back in action at Chapman on Saturday, Jan. 19 in a rematch of the only conference loss so far this season for the CMS Women's basketball team and the second leg of two regular season match-ups this season set for tip at 2 p.m. This will mark the second rematch of last-seasons SCIAC tournament championship game.