Poets advance to SCIAC tournament with win over CMS

WHITTIER, Calif. - The Whittier College women's basketball team needed all 45 minutes of the game played tonight at the Graham Athletic Center to secure their place among the top four teams in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. The Poets outscored the Athenas, 9-4, in the extra time to lift them to a 66-61 overtime-win and punch their ticket for next week's conference tournament.

The Poets (16-9, 8-6 SCIAC) trailed for over 19 minutes of the second half but rallied to tie the score, for the third time in the game, with 55 seconds left on a foul shot by Morgan Sabala.

Kourtney Zilbert gave the purple and gold its first lead since the 4:50 mark of the first half as she connected on 1-of-2 foul shots to put the Poets up 57-56 with 12 seconds left. On the ensuing possession Claremont-Mudd-Scripp's (13-12, 6-8 SCIAC) Aria Krumwiede sent the game to overtime with a free throw after she was fouled with two seconds left.

Whittier never trailed in overtime and led by as many as seven points before it went on for the six-point win.

Zilbert recorded a double-double as she finished with 20 points and 17 rebounds. Sabala finished with 16 points and a game-high four assists while Stephanie Anderson, who played in her final regular season game of her career, finished the night with six points on 1-of-1 shooting with one steal.

The Poets will face SCIAC No. 1 seed Occidental next Thursday, February 26, in the semifinals of the conference tournament. The Tigers and Poets have met twice this season with Occidental winning both of those games.

The first meeting was back on January 22 where the Poets lost on the road, 68-46, and the second meeting was on February 14 with Whittier dropping that contest, 78-63.

The Poets will be playing for the program's first conference championship.