LOS ANGELES – Caltech Women's Basketball returned to SCIAC play on Saturday afternoon against local rival Occidental College, taking the host Tigers down to the wire in a tight battle.

The Beavers kept the game close early on and hit some clutch three-pointers to erase a nine-point deficit in the fourth quarter. As a team, Caltech out-performed Oxy in points off turnovers (18-9) and bench points (13-9), and drained 10 threes in the effort, ultimately coming up short by a single point.

The two teams traded baskets early in the first quarter before Occidental climbed ahead by six, only for Caltech to tie the score at 12-12 with about two and a half minutes left in the quarter. The Beavers maintained their lead through most of the second quarter and held off a third-quarter surge by the Tigers to knot the game at 52-52 at the 2:55 mark. In all, the back-and-forth duel saw 10 tie scores and 14 lead changes before the final buzzer.

Leading the charge on offense was senior Kodie Vondra (Livingston, Mont. / Park), with team highs of 19 points and three steals and no turnovers in her 39 minutes on the floor, also collecting a few rebounds and dishing one assist.

First-year Zeynep Goktepe (Istanbul, Turkey / The MacDuffie School) followed with 15 points and a team-high four assists in her fourth start of the season. Classmate Kyra Phaychangpheng (Chino Hills, Calif. / Chino Hills) dropped 14 points on the opposition with a blocked shot, three assists, four rebounds and a steal. 

Senior Maria Vazhaeparambil (Saratoga, Calif. / The Harker School) was a perfect 4-for-4 at the free throw line along with a pair of field goals for eight points, also contributing an assist and grabbing two steals and three rebounds. Classmate Asmat Taunque (Chandigarh, India / The Lawrenceville School) led the Beavers in rebounding with six, three each on offense and defense, and first-year Anamaria Robertson (Petaluma, Calif. / Casa Grande) scored eight points from the field including two three-pointers, also snagging five boards.

Head Coach Annie Tarakchian and the Beavers will face the Sagehens of Pomona-Pitzer Colleges on Wednesday, Jan. 8 at 7 p.m.