Panthers survive second-half blunders, defeat Poets 66-62

ORANGE, Calif. – The Chapman University women's basketball team let a comfortable first-half lead slip away, but held on in the final minutes to defeat the Whittier Poets, 66-62 at the Hutton Sports Center on Saturday. The Panthers survived 19 second half turnovers, watching their 20-point lead dwindle before coming up with two key turnovers of their own in the final seconds to earn their second straight win.

It was a tale of two halves for Chapman (4-2, 2-1 SCIAC), who struggled to hold on to the ball and shot poorly from the line in the second half after a nearly flawless first half. Meanwhile, the Poets experienced a similar phenomenon, changing course at halftime to outscore the Panthers by 10 in the second half, nearly missing their first win of the season.

Sophomore F Sandra Gao led the way for the Panthers, recording her third double-double on the season with a game-high 18 points and 12 rebounds to go along with four assists, two steals and two blocked shots. Gao's teammate, sophomore F Natalia Ebrahimian, provided a much needed spark for the Panthers on Saturday, scoring 15 points off the bench in just 26 minutes.

The victory puts Chapman into a fourth-place tie with Pomona-Pitzer as the Panthers head into a long stretch of non-conference games. The next SCIAC matchup will be at Claremont-M-S on Jan. 4.

The Panthers will leave the mainland tomorrow and head to Hawaii for the Hoop N Surf Classic with games against Pacific (OR) on Dec. 18 and Georgetown (KY) on Dec. 20.

Box score: http://www.chapmanathletics.com/sports/wbkb/2013-14/boxscores/20131214_22sr.xml

by Ryan Cavinder
Sports Information Assistant

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