WHITTIER, Calif. (Feb. 29, 2022) – Caltech women's basketball shocked the SCIAC on Saturday night, emerging victorious on the road at Whittier College to split the season series, denying the hosts the number two seed in the conference playoffs and locking up sole possession of sixth place for the first time in program history.

The Beavers quickly set the tone with sophomore Hope Arnett (Torrance, Calif. / Chadwick School) stealing the ball from Whittier on the first possession of the game, leading to a three-pointer by freshman Katherine Marquis (Tewksbury, Mass. / Phillips Academy Andover) to get on the scoreboard first. Whittier scored the next two buckets to take a one-point lead, but freshman Kathryn Edwards (Centennial, Colo. / Arapahoe) quickly replied with a layup to regain the lead at 5-4.

The teams then traded free throws, and sophomore Claire Perhach (Carlsbad, Calif. / Sage Creek) responded with one of her own to tie the game at 6-6. Whittier got hot with a seven-point run, but Caltech kept the game within reach as the Poets enjoyed a 19-13 lead at the end of the first quarter. It would turn out be Whittier's best quarter of the game, as the Beavers turned up the heat against their formidable opponent.

A pair of free throws by junior Sahana Saikumar (Arcadia, Calif. / Arcadia) opened up the scoring in the second quarter to pull Caltech within four points. Sophomore Milan Robinson (Anaheim, Calif. / Fairmont Prep) fought back against some Whittier offense with a layup of her own. Caltech gradually chipped away at Whittier's lead throughout the quarter, finally tying the game at 29-29 on a pair of Edwards free throws heading into halftime. After Whittier shot 53.3 percent from the field in the first quarter, defensive pressure from the Beavers held the Poets to only three field goals in the second at just 25 percent shooting accuracy.

Whittier threatened to take the game back under its control early in the third quarter, racking up a 39-33 lead in the first few minutes on back-to-back threes to draw a timeout from the Beavers. After the stoppage, Caltech stormed back and into the lead with eight unanswered points to make it 41-39. After more back-and-forth scoring, Saikumar had the last word with a jump shot that gave her team a 43-42 lead going into the fourth quarter.

It was all Caltech for the final 10 minutes as the team shot 50 percent from the field, including 3-for-4 from beyond the three-point arc. Robinson nailed a three in the opening miniutes of the quarter and the other two came on absolute daggers from the hands of junior Faith Pinney (Spokane, Wash. / Gonzaga Preparatory School), the second of which gave Caltech its largest lead of the game at 58-48.The Beavers only conceded nine points to Whittier in the frame and the victory was sealed with a 60-51 final score.

Edwards led both teams in scoring and offensive rebounds, totaling 18 points and six boards in the frontcourt. She collected two more rebounds on defense and added a pair of steals in her clutch performance. Saikumar was the game's top rebounder with nine, also putting up 14 points, dishing five assists and blocking two Poet shots (including forcing a turnover on a mid-air tie-up). Robinson ended up with 10 points four boards and three assists coming off the bench. Arnett served as a playmaker with her five assists, eight boards and two steals, while scoring seven points.

The win broke two program records, both for the most wins in the regular season (11) and for the most conference wins in a season (six). Head Coach Bridgette Reyes and the Beavers hold the #6 seed in the SCIAC Postseason Tournament, expanded to eight teams this year only due to early January Covid-19 cancellations creating the prospect of an unbalanced schedule, and will play on the road Tuesday, Feb. 22 at either Pomona-Pitzer Colleges or Chapman University, to be determined by a coin flip (as the third tiebreaker following head-to-head and record vs. highest common opponent) on Sunday morning.