Box Score SANTA CRUZ, Calif. – The Caltech women's basketball team headed up North once again this season, only this time staying in California to face Whitworth University at the home of the NBA G League's Santa Cruz Warriors.

The Beavers got on the board first on a layup by Kathryn Edwards and pulled ahead to a 7-3 lead at 6:02 in the first quarter, before Whitworth would finish the quarter with an 11-2 run as five different Pirates shooters all scored. Caltech trailed 14-9 at the break.

After Sahana Saikumar traded baskets with the opponent a couple times, she drew a foul and hit both free throws, the first two points of a 12-0 Caltech run to finish up the half. Two-pointers by Milan Robinson, Saumya Chauhan and Faith Pinney followed, and then Saikumar nailed a three to send the Beavers into halftime with a 25-19 lead.

Both teams struggled to make shots at the beginning of the third frame, but Kodie Vondra opened up the second half scoring with a layup for Caltech, extending their lead to 27-19. Whitworth responded with a layup to snap their scoreless streak at the 6:13 mark, 11:26 since their last points at 7:25 of the second quarter. This sparked an 8-0 run to tie the score at 27-27. Edwards and Saikumar drew fouls and drained their free throws as the teams sustained the back-and-forth scoring and took a 36-36 tie into the fourth quarter.

Caltech stormed ahead in the first few minutes of the final frame with a 12-2 run to claim a 10-point lead, including three-pointers by Vondra and Saikumar and not a single missed shot among the team. Whitworth kept their hopes alive with a big three and by responding to Caltech's layups with good layups of their own, cutting Caltech's lead to 54-47 with 1:50 to go, followed by a clutch steal and a drawn foul to make it 54-48 on a good free throw at 1:10, but it turned out to be the last point of the game as the Beavers held on for the win.

"This was a true team win and a 'welcome back' game for Sahana," Head Coach Annie Tarakchian said. "We had great intensity all 40 minutes and fought hard to win the fourth quarter. It's great to be going into SCIAC [conference play] with this energy and momentum. We also had so many families here to support and love on us, it almost felt like a home game."

Saikumar finished with a game-high 20 points, and Edwards contributed 16 of her own along with four assists, three blocks and three steals. Vondra lead the team in rebounds with nine and added four steals, three assists and a block. 

Tarakchian and the Beavers return to Braun Gym for a home game on Wednesday, Nov. 30 against Chapman University in the first contest of their 2022-23 SCIAC campaign.