Season Review: Poets post winning season for first time in five years

WHITTIER, Calif. - The Whittier College women's basketball team ended a five season drought this year as the team finished above .500 for the first time since the 2002-03 season. The Poets ended the year ranked fourth in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and qualified for the program's first conference tournament.

"It was a successful season and I was very pleased with how quickly the girls learned the new plays and embraced our new philosophy," said first year head coach Brad Durchslag. "We set a goal from day one to make the conference tournament and our hard work and determination made that a reality." 

Whittier went 16-10 and had an 8-6 conference mark. The 16 wins are the second most this decade. WC finished 20-5 in the 2000-01 season and went 16-9 in 2002-03.

The Poets were led by forward Kourtney Zilbert who garnered a spot on her second-consecutive all-conference first-team. Zilbert led the team in scoring in 16 of the team's 26 games and had a team-high nine double-doubles.

The Burbank, Calif., native was named the SCIAC Female Athlete of the Week for the week ending February 23 after she tallied two impressive double-doubles. Zilbert went for 17 points and 18 rebounds on February 19 and as an encore, two nights later, she poured in 20 points and brought in 17 rebounds.

"Kourtney is a great competitor and teammate," said Durchslag. "We set a lot of challenges for her to get better and improve her all-around game and she met those head on. She has a real passion for the game and thrives on competing."

The 5-9 sophomore averaged 14.0 points and 8.2 rebounds per game and was named to the D3hoops.com All-West Region third-team.

The 2008-09 season also marked the final year for Stephanie Anderson. The senior guard averaged 20 minutes of action a game and scored 5.0 points and 1.3 assists a contest.

"Stephanie was a captain and her leadership was very important to the success of our team," said Durchslag. "She leads by example and watching her battle through injuries really inspired the other girls to keep working hard."

The purple and gold opened the season with a 103-52 win over Pacific Union on November 23.  The Poets won six of their first eight games to finish the 2008 portion of their schedule 6-2. WC's only losses in that span were to NCAA Division III National Semifinalists Washington University and NAIA San Diego Christian College.

"It was very good for us to get off to such a strong start. It allowed the team to see that the changes we were making from the past really do work," said Durchslag. "We were able to win some close games which I know had a major impact on the team's mindset going forward."

Whittier won its first three games at the start of 2009 which includes its SCIAC opener over Cal Lutheran on January 8. WC suffered its first setback in SCIAC play two nights later to eventual conference tournament runner-up La Verne.

The purple and gold had regular-season sweeps of Cal Lutheran and Caltech and split its series with Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, Redlands, Pomona-Pitzer and La Verne.

The only school to beat WC twice was regular-season and tournament SCIAC champion Occidental. Last season Occidental and Redlands took both games from Whittier.

The Poets lost consecutive games only once this year, had two separate win streaks of three games and ranked in the top two percent in the country in steals per game. WC averaged 12.3 steals a game and ranked 37th out of 435.

WC's season ended in the first round of the SCIAC tournament at Occidental. The Tigers went on to represent the SCIAC in the NCAA tournament.

Game of the Year
Whittier vs. Claremont-M-S, Whittier, Calif. - Feb. 21, 2009
The Poets and Athenas met in the last regular-season game of the year with the fourth and final SCIAC tournament berth on the line. CMS won the first game between the two programs, 65-56, on January 29 but Whittier held a half-game advantage in the conference standings.

"This was, for all intensive purposes, a playoff game," said Durchslag. "The winner was going to make it to the conference tournament and with our goal being make the conference tournament we did not want to finish fifth."

WC jumped out to a quick 8-0 lead just 2:30 into the first half but Claremont battled back and took its first lead with 2:15 left in the half. Kourtney Zilbert tied the score at 28 on WC's next possession but CMS closed the half on a 4-0 run to lead 32-28 at halftime.

CMS built on its lead in the second half with a 12-6 run over the first seven minute to take its largest lead at 44-34.

The Poets closed the lead to one-point on three occasions before they were able to tie the score at 56 with 55 seconds left in the game.

After the Athenas missed pair of free throws with less than 30 seconds left the Poets were able to take their first lead since the 4:50 mark of the first half.

Zilbert made good on 1-of-2 free throws with 12 seconds left to put WC up 57-56 but a late foul put CMS at the line for two shots with just two seconds left.

The Athenas made the back end of the foul shots to send the game to overtime.

In the extra period the Poets outscored CMS 9-4 to clinch the final SCIAC playoff berth.

"To have this game be on ‘Pac the GAC' night was awesome," said Durchslag. "The fans and support we had was amazing and I know it helped fuel us to the overtime win. To win this type of game, with so much at stake, showed a lot of heart."

Outlook to Next Year
The Poets lose only one player to graduation next year and will welcome back two-time first-team all-conference performer Kourtney Zilbert.

Zilbert will be joined by Tina Merlino and Morgan Sabala who averaged 9.7 and 8.4 points per game each, respectively, in the 2008-09 campaign. The three juniors-to-be all scored over 200 points for the Poets and were responsible for 48 percent of the Whittier offensive.

"We have high expectations for this program and this year laid a great foundation going forward," said Durchslag. 

"Our goal is going to be to make the conference tournament and hopefully be hosting.  We know what it takes to win this conference and the players returning know how important the off-season is to our success."