PASADENA, Calif. — The Caltech women's basketball team hosted the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology on Monday in an evening nonconference matchup.

Action tipped off shortly after 7 p.m. and it was the visitors from Terre Haute, Indiana who struck the first blow.

Rose-Hulman quickly went up 5-0 in the matchup, though the Beavers responded with points of their own on back-to-back possessions to tie the contest. A nice jumper from junior guard/forward Kathryn Edwards kicked off the scoring for Caltech before senior guard Milan Robinson forced a turnover on the other end. The squad turned defense into offense as Robinson found Edwards in the paint, who scored the and-1 bucket to electrify the Beaver crowd.

Edwards connected on the three-point play at the charity stripe to make the score 5-5.

The Fightin' Engineers answered with some points of their own, but Caltech senior forward Claire Perhach brought the team back within three after drawing a foul and going 2-for-2 from the free throw line.

Caltech hung around before Rose-Hulman began to pull ahead; the Beavers produced several strong offensive possessions in the second quarter the opponents who held the lead at halftime.

The home team returned to the court for the second half with new energy and momentum, outscoring their opponents 14-8 in the third quarter. Six different Beavers scored at least two points in the period, including a three from junior guard Maria Vazhaeparambil and another from junior guard Saumya Chauhan on the following possession.

It was the strong defensive quarter for the unit, who forced the Fightin' Engineers into nine turnovers in the ten minutes of action. The Beavers limited Rose-Hulman to just .273 from the field for the quarter.

Caltech also outscored Rose-Hulman in the fourth quarter, 19-15. The Beavers began the period scoring after Edwards downed two free throws; the team would go on to cut the Rose-Hulman lead down to 11.

The Beavers continued playing strong basketball but they could not catch back up to the opponents as time expired.

Head coach Annie Tarakchian's squad outscored the guests 33-23 in the second half.

Caltech scored 15 points off turnovers to Rose-Hulman's nine; the Beavers shot .824 from the free throw line (14-for-17) while the Fightin' Engineers shot .714 (10-for-14).

The Beavers recorded 14 turnovers to the visitors' 21; Caltech notched 14 steals to the opponents' 8.

Edwards led Caltech in scoring with 18 points; the junior's four blocks led the game and matched the total number of blocks from all of Rose-Hulman's players combined.

Senior guard Hope Arnett led the game in steals, with four. Robinson, Vondra and Edwards each collected six rebounds; Chauhan went 2-for-2 on 3-pointers.

The Beavers will now prepare for their first conference clash of 2023-24 as they take on the University of La Verne on Wednesday, Nov. 29. Action is slated to begin at 7 p.m.; follow the game online at gocaltech.com/coverage.

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