Solid Defense leads CMS Women's Basketball to 68-28 Win at Occidental

LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's basketball team held Occidental to just eight made baskets from the field and rolled to a 68-28 victory on Wednesday night at Rush Gym.

The Athenas improve to 10-6 overall and 3-4 in the SCIAC with the win and the Tigers fall to 6-11 overall and 1-7 in conference play with the loss. CMS snaps its two-game losing skid and holds its opponent to the lowest offensive output of the season with just 28 points allowed on 14.0 percent from the field. The Athenas also owned the boards with a 51-33 advantage in rebounding. 

CMS was dominant on defense from the opening tip, limiting Occidental to just two made shots (2-13) in the first quarter and held a 21-4 advantage after the opening frame.

Flora Durgerian drained a three-pointer at the 2:58 mark of the first frame to extend the advantage to 14-4 Durgerian finished with six points on 1-3 from the field and 3-4 for from the free-throw line over 12 minutes on the floor. 

Lindsey Cleary made 3-6 shots from the field including her third made three on the season, on six attempts this season, to open the first 10 minutes strong with seven points.

CMS trailed 4-0 with 7:33 left in the first quarter but went on a 21-0 run to close out the remainder and held a 17-point advantage. 

The defense continued to stifle the Tigers, allowing just three made shots in the first half on 26 attempts from the field for a total of 11 points at the break. The Athenas held a lopsided 38-11 lead after 20 minutes of play at Occidental and shot 16-29 (55.2%) from the field, on top of the smothering defense that forced 10 turnovers in the first half. 

Occidental snapped the 21-0 run with a jumper from Raveena Dhiman just over 1:20 into the second quarter to cut the deficit to 21-6 at that point. Dhiman finished with six points on 2-9 from the field. 

Cleary scored 13 of her team-high 15 points in the first half and finished 7-11 from the field with five rebounds, one assist, and one steal on the night. 11 different Athenas scored from a balanced attack that was spurned on by their defense that forced 17 turnovers and scored 18 points off of those giveaways. 

The Tigers couldn't get much going, finishing 5-31 from the field in the second half and shooting 14.0% from the field for the game with 12 of their 28 points coming from the free-throw line (12-17/ 70.6%). 

Taylor Yoshida led Occidental with eight points on 2-14 from the field and 4-4 from the free-throw line.

Gloria Bates finished with eight points off the bench on 4-8 from the field and three blocks. Austyn Masuno posted nine points on 2-2 shooting and 5-10 from the free-throw line, and Jane Baldwin finished with nine points on 3-5 shooting and 3-4 from the free-throw stripe as well. Lauren Longo made two three-pointers and sank 1-2 from the free-throw line to finish with seven points.

CMS shot 45.3 percent (24-53) from the field as a team including 35.7 percent (5-14) from three-point range and 62.5 percent (15-24) from the free-throw line. The 40-point victory marks the largest margin of victory this season surpassing the previous high of 37 points (87-50) over Hendrix in the McWilliams Classic on Fri. Dec. 6. 

The Athenas are back in action on Saturday, Jan. 25 at Chapman looking for revenge after falling at home against the Panthers on Jan. 13, 85-82. The second matchup between SCIAC opponents will take place at 4 p.m.