PASADENA, Calif. (Jan. 25, 2023) – Caltech Women's Basketball hosted the University of La Verne Leopards Wednesday night in front of the loudest Braun Gymnasium crowd of the season. The Beavers strung together a thrilling second half comeback to force overtime against a tough La Verne squad that earned the No. 22 ranking in this week's WCBA poll.
La Verne scored first and raced ahead to a five-point lead after Kodie Vondra put the Beavers on the board with a layup. Undeterred, Milan Robinson splashed a three, Kathryn Edwards hit a jumper inside the arc, and then Faith Pinney nailed another three-pointer to pull Caltech back to a one-point deficit at 11-10. The Leopards pulled ahead by five again, but as time wound down in the first quarter, Claire Perhach dished to Edwards for a layup that fell through with just two seconds left in the period, bringing the Beavers back within three points.
Caltech made the Leopards pay for a costly turnover early in the second quarter as Eleanor Kim found Vondra open for a triple, tying the score at 15 and drawing an urgent timeout by La Verne. From then until halftime, both teams struggled to score from the field but La Verne regained control and racked up a nine-point lead and held the Beavers to just seven points in the quarter. Edwards made a two free throws three minutes apart, and finally dropped in a layup with 28 seconds before the halftime buzzer. The Leopards led 26-19 at the half.
After the break, Caltech began chipping away at the Leopards' lead with Edwards, Perhach and Robinson each driving in for layups to pull within three again at 28-15 at the 4:35 mark. La Verne ran ahead by seven, but the Beavers scored eight points in the last 1:32 of the quarter on a three by Vondra, free throws by Edwards, and a clock-beating three-pointer by Robinson to pull within one point of the Leopards. The scoreboard read 34-33 La Verne after Caltech outscored the visitors 14-8 in the quarter.
While the sizable contingent of La Verne fans had kept the noise level up throughout the contest, the Caltech faithful grew louder and louder with every made basket as the Beavers refused to surrender to their first-place SCIAC rival. After La Verne claimed the first five points of the fourth quarter, Vondra drew a foul up close and sunk both of her resulting free throws. Perhach and Pinney traded two-pointers with the guests, and Vondra sent the crowd into a frenzy with a three-pointer to claim a 42-40 Caltech lead with 4:14 remaining, and another one with 1:16 to go, making it 47-45. La Verne tied the score and then earned a one-point lead on a free throw with 43 seconds left. Perhach drew a foul ten seconds later and tied the game up at the free throw line. La Verne was unable to score before the end of regulation, and the game headed to overtime tied at 48-48.
Robinson drew a quick foul in the first extra minute and hit both of her free throws, and Edwards responded to La Verne's ensuing layup with one of her own. Playing for 42 of the game's 45 minutes, Edwards finished with a double-double of 16 points and a season-high 19 rebounds.
Vondra matched Edwards with 16 points of her own, also adding an assist, a block and a steal. Robinson tallied ten points with a pair of steals. Pinney and Kim each doled out a pair of assists in the team's tremendous effort.
Head Coach Annie Tarakchian and the Beavers will travel to Claremont next to face the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Athenas on Saturday at 2 p.m. Watch the game live on the SCIAC Network.
