The Caltech Women's Basketball team opened the conference season
last night with high hopes of taking all they have learned in the
non conference schedule to the court. For the untrained eye, it
might seem that the Bavers were unsuccessful on the scoreboard, but
as Tech travels deeper into their schedule, the size of their
roster will be their biggest opponent. The Beaver - Poet match up
started out well. Tech stayed tight with Whittier through most of
the first period, and the gap did not build to double digits until
the clock showed 7:32 left before the half. It was a good sign for
the Beavers, who historically struggle in the first portion of
games. Halftime brought a 16 point deficit the beavers had to
contend with, but the team was competing.
However depth for Whittier pulled Tech's legs out from under
them, with twelve players seeing double digit minutes, in contrast
to Tech's six. The tired legs started showing as shots fell short
and Tech's second half shooting percentage fell to only 26%. The
young team continued to struggle with turnovers in key places,
stifling their glimpses at momentum swings. With only one
upperclass player in the starting line up, Tech's youth shows most
as they average 30 turnovers a game.
When analyzing the game from the stand point of number of
players available, Tech did an outstanding job holding its own.
With half the number of players getting significant minutes, Tech
only gave up a 2 rebound edge to Whittier. The Beavers also managed
63 shot attempts to Whittier's 68. Tech had been struggling to find
enough shots to give them a solid chance at outscoring opponents.
What took the Poets 12 players to put up, Tech did with only six.
Now the challenge for the Beavers is to find the high percentage
shots to convert so the points show on the board.
Caltech was not without its bright spots. Senior Lisa Yee
continued her domination of the glass pulling down 17 rebounds, 9
of which were offensive. Yee added seven points and six assists to
the box score as well. Sophomore Krissy Dahl was one short of a
double double, scoring a game high of 19 points and pulling down 9
rebounds. Dahl's sharp shooting led her to convert on 9 of 18 field
goals.
Yee and Dahl continue their national ranking as stats through
January 3rd are now available. Yee is ranked 15th in the nation in
rebounding, and last night's boards certainly help her climb back
up to the spot she held in mid December. Dahl also holds national
rankings in blocked shots, sitting at #11. Teammate Teri Juarez
broke in to the top 100 on the rebounding list, debuting at the
89th spot.
The Beavers are back in action tomorrow for their first Saturday
of SCIAC play in a doubleheader with the Caltech men in Thousand
Oaks with Cal Lutheran. Last season, Tech dropped both games to Cal
Lu in lopsided scores. The ladies will take the road with one
goal...improve on the 08-09 performance, knowing that if they can
play a better game...anything can happen.
GO TECH!!!
BOXSCORE
