Unbeaten streak snapped at Chapman falls in home opener
ORANGE, Calif. – Despite its unbeaten start to the season, the Chapman University women's basketball team was reminded on Saturday night that the road to the SCIAC championship goes through Occidental College. The visiting Tigers continued their recent reign over the Panthers beating them for the fifth straight time 68-59 in Chapman's Hutton Center debut.
Although tying the game five times, Chapman (5-1 overall, 1-1 SCIAC) never held more than a one-point lead before ultimately dropping its first game of the year to the two-time defending SCIAC champions.
After Chapman took a short-lived 35-34 lead to open the second half, it allowed 14 unanswered points led by Occidental junior F Alyssa Mort and senior G Marquisha Corley who combined for 10 of those. Corley finished with 19 points and three steals.
The Panthers responded as Chapman junior G Kimi Takaoka scored 11 points to lead a 15-3 run and tie the game at 50 with 5:35 left on the clock.
Despite the comeback, Occidental (3-2 overall, 2-0 SCIAC) capitalized from Panther fouls scoring nine points off free throws in the final five minutes. Occidental finished the game scoring 24 points out of 30 attempts from the free throw line. Senior G Makenzie Brandon led the Tigers with a double-double of 20 points and 11 rebounds, along with four assists.
The first half was much of the same as the Panthers found themselves playing catch-up. Takaoka again led a 14-3 run in the first half with two three-pointers to comeback from a double-digit deficit and tie the game at 29. Takaoka finished with a game-high 23 points and shot 3-for-4 from the three-point line.
The Panthers held Occidental close the remaining two minutes of the half, heading into the intermission trailing 34-33.
Senior guards Emily McCoy and Anne Yoshimura scored 14 and 10 points, respectively. Yoshimura added a team-high nine rebounds for Chapman.
Chapman continues SCIAC competition next week traveling to play Whittier on Thursday at 7:30 p.m.
by Bogart Avila & Doug Aiken
Sports Information Intern & Sports Information Director
Boxscore: http://www.chapmanathletics.com/sports/wbkb/2012-13/boxscores/20121201_4joh.xml
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