Photo: Shu Fay Ung

PASADENA (Dec. 4, 2019) – Senior guard Grace Peng (San Ramon, Calif. / California) of the Caltech women's basketball team nearly broke the program's single-game scoring record against visiting Occidental College in the Beavers' 2019-20 SCIAC debut on Wednesday evening.

Peng, who put up a career-high 35 points, needed one more basket to surpass an eight-year-old record originally set by Rachel Hess back in 2011. The senior did, however, manage to set the single-game record for three-pointers with eight field goals from beyond the arc. Peng got especially hot in the fourth quarter when she made half her total triples en route to a 4-for-7 clip for the period in arguably the best pure shooting performance in team history. The point guard's late surge gave the Beavers a chance late against a deeper Tigers team. Peng's big game moves her scoring average to an even 20 points per game on the season, putting her on pace to break the career scoring record if she can maintain her strong level of play.

The rest of the women's basketball team played an equally important role throughout the game, particularly early on when the Beavers went into the half trailing the Tigers by just four points. Caltech played perhaps its best defense of the game from the very first whistle, as it took Oxy over four minutes to register its first field goal. Freshman forward Sahana Saikumar (Arcadia, Calif. / Arcadia) complemented Peng with 18 points and 12 rebounds for her third consecutive double-double and fifth in seven games. Classmate Faith Pinney (Arcadia, Calif. / Arcadia) also played an integral role in the Caltech offense, chipping in nine points, with six coming in the first half.

Head Coach Bridgette Reyes and the Beavers will hit the travel on Saturday, Dec. 7 for their first SCIAC road game of the season at Chapman University.

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