PASADENA, Calif. – Caltech Women's Basketball hosted the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Athenas Saturday afternoon, putting on a thrilling show against a strong opponent in front of a loud Braun Gymnasium crowd. 

The Beavers lurched ahead to an 8-0 lead as Kathryn Edwards and Claire Perhach alternated making baskets before Edwards lit up the scoreboard with red-hot seven-for-eight field goal shooting and tallying a massive 17 points in the first quarter. The Beavers led the Athenas 21-11 after 10 minutes of game time. 

CMS held pace with Caltech in the second quarter, but only managed to trim their deficit by one point as Kodie Vondra scored a pair of threes and Milan Robinson hit a triple of her own. A pair of Faith Pinney free throws gave the Beavers 10 points in the frame, and they earned a 31-22 halftime lead. 

After the break, the CMS defense stymied the Beavers as they struggled to score from the field, but rookie Eleanor Kim stepped up to drop in a two-pointer as well as a pair of free throws after drawing a foul. CMS pulled ahead by couple points, but Edwards tied it back up with a pair of free throws and the score was tied at 38-38 heading into the final frame.

The atmosphere was electric with the day's Orange Out events helping fill the bleachers with their largest crowd of the season, and the decibels spiked with every Caltech basket. Pinney opened up the fourth quarter with a three and then a couple of layups for the Beavers' first seven points, putting them back on top by a point. CMS pulled ahead again, but then Kim sunk a pair of free throws to reclaim the lead once more at 47-46 and a later free throw made it 48-46 with under two minutes to play. Neither team could score again until CMS tied the game with a layup, and Caltech were unable to score before the game headed to overtime tied 48-48.

With foul trouble leading to Edwards' early departure, Caltech were left with just one available player on the bench and struggled to keep up with the Athenas' rotation. All things considered, it was a thrilling contest marked by a tremendous effort by a resilient Caltech team that took one of the top teams in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) to the brink.

Head Coach Annie Tarakchian and the Beavers will return to their home court on Wednesday, Jan. 18 as Caltech hosts the Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens at 7 p.m.