BAYAMÓN, Puerto Rico — The Caltech women's basketball team earned a 74-45 victory over Alverno College on Tuesday in the Beavers' second and final game at the 2024 Division III Puerto Rico Classico.

It was a dominant showing for Caltech, who played a pair of games at the Ruben Rodriguez Coliseum just a few miles outside San Juan. The team faced off against the College of Saint Benedict on Monday before battling Alverno on Tuesday.

Caltech's clash with the Alverno Inferno began just after 2 p.m. local time, 10 a.m. Pacific, and it soon proved a dominant showing for the Beavers, who won all four quarters and did not trail at any point.

Senior guard Kodie Vondra (Livingston, Mont. / Park) kicked off the scoring with a good layup on the team's opening possession before senior guard Maria Vazhaeparambil (Saratoga, Calif. / The Harker School) found rookie guard Kyra Phaychanpheng (Chino Hills, Calif. / Chino Hills) in the paint for a good jumper on the team's second trip down the court to make it 4-0.

A quick layup in transition from first-year guard Carolyn Ruan (Cupertino, Calif. / Monta Vista) put Caltech up 6-0 before the Inferno scored its first points of the contest at the 7:07 mark of the period.

The Beavers responded immediately with five straight points to go up 11-2, as Vondra found senior guard/forward Kathryn Edwards (Centennial, Colo. / Arapahoe) for a 3-pointer before feeding Phaychanpheng for another jump shot in the paint.

Caltech secured a six-point lead at 17-11 as the first quarter buzzer sounded; the squad soon extended that lead to 12 just over halfway into the second period. The Beavers earned their first points of the quarter at the 8:46 mark as rookie guard Zeynep Goktepe (Istanbul, Turkey / The MacDuffie School) stole the ball from the Inferno before connecting with Edwards, who finished on the layup.

Phaychanpheng drained a 3-pointer at the 7:32 mark before grabbing a defensive board and hitting a nice 2-point shot a few possessions later. A good layup from Edwards put the Beavers up 10 before a steal and subsequent fastbreak layup from Ruan put the group up 12 at 28-16. Caltech went up by as many as 14 before settling for the 12-point advantage at halftime.

The Beavers topped their 17-11 second quarter with a 23-12 third quarter to extend their lead to 23, with six different Beavers finding the bottom of the net in the period. Caltech earned its largest lead in the final moments of the fourth quarter as Ruan again stole the ball and converted the fastbreak layup on the other end to put the Beavers up 74-45 before the final horn sounded.

Ruan led all players in scoring with a collegiate career-high 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting, including a 2-for-2 performance from beyond the arc. The rookie went 1-for-1 at the free throw line and added a career-high three steals.

Vondra earned an incredible career-high 10 assists to lead all players; the senior single-handedly dished out more assists than the Inferno did as a team. The standout finished the game with five points and four rebounds with just one turnover in 34 minutes.

Edwards recorded 15 points, going 6-for-13 from the field and 2-for-4 from 3-point range; the senior brought down eight rebounds and had three steals. Phaychanpheng went 6-for-10 from the field with one 3-pointer and added one free throw to finish with 14 points. The first-year brought down five boards and blocked one shot.

First-year guard Anamaria Robertson (Petaluma, Calif. / Casa Grande) collected a game-high 11 rebounds to go with five points, two assists and two steals; Goktepe posted nine points after draining three field goals and going 3-for-4 from the charity stripe.

The Beavers shot .450 from the field while limiting the Inferno to just .315; Caltech made nine of its 3-pointers while giving up just one from the opponent. The group combined for 17 assists to Alverno's eight, and they recorded 14 steals to the Inferno's five; Caltech scored 23 points off turnovers while giving up just nine points on their own turnovers.

The big win capped off the second of two games for Caltech at the Puerto Rico Classico; one day earlier, the group fell 41-54 to the College of the Saint Benedict.

The Bennies won the opening ten minutes but it was the Beavers who won the second quarter, 16-10, to tie the game up at 26 apiece going into the halftime intermission. Saint Benedict re-gained the lead in the third quarter; Caltech could not catch back up in the final period as time expired.

Edwards finished the contest with a game-high seven boards to go with 11 points on 5-of-12 shooting, including one deep triple. Phaychanpheng led all players on either team in scoring with 12 points after shooting 6-for-10 from the field.

Vondra stole the ball five times – one more than the Bennies combined steal total of four. The senior also made history as she achieved 100 career 3-pointers made.

The Beavers scored 17 points on the 20 Saint Benedict turnovers they forced; the Bennies scored just three points off Caltech's turnovers. The Institute stole the ball nine times while giving up just four steals all game.

Head coach Annie Tarakchian and the squad will enjoy Puerto Rico before returning to Southern California and preparing for their upcoming schedule; the Beavers' next contest will come on Saturday, Jan. 4 as the group battles Occidental College on the road at 2 p.m. Follow the action at GoCaltech.com/Coverage.

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