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Occidental and Redlands to Hosts SCIAC Women's Basketball Semifinals

LOS ANGELES, Calif. (Feb. 25, 2009) - After claiming their second consecutive  Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title in as many years, the Occidental College women's basketball program has earned the top seed entering the 2009 SCIAC Post Season Tournament, beginning Thursday, Feb. 26 night at 7:30 p.m.

Occidental (20-5, 12-2 SCIAC) will host the fourth seeded Whittier College Poets (16-9, 8-6) at Rush Gymnasium while the University of Redlands (19-6, 11-3), who finished second, will host the University of La Verne (18-6, 10-4).

Tickets for the event are $5 for adults, $2 for children 12 and under and senior citizens 55 and older and free to SCIAC faculty, staff and students with current ID cards. The Ticket booth will open one hour prior to tip-off.

The Tigers have defeated the Poets twice this season, winning 68-46 at home on Jan. 22 before earning a 78-63 victory at Whittier on Feb. 14. Oxy split with both other teams in the tournament, suffering a season opening loss at Redlands (73-46) before avenging the Bulldogs victory with a 66-50 victory of their own at Rush Gymnasium on Jan. 31. 

Redlands takes on a La Verne team that beat the Bulldogs back on Jan. 22 in Currier Gym. On Feb. 14, the Maroon and Gray avenged the January loss with a solid 58-53 victory against the Leopards and with a win over Caltech on Saturday, earned the No. 2 seed in the SCIAC Postseason Tournament.

The Teams in the Tournament

Occidental is second in the conference in scoring with 64.4 points per game, second to La Verne who put up 64.9 ppg. Whittier and Redlands finished with 63.8 and 62.9 ppg, respectively. The Leopards were accurate from the field 47.8% of the time while Oxy shot 43.3% from the field. Redlands finished with a shooting percentage of 42 while Whittier made 38% of their field goals this season.

The Tigers have three players who average double figure scoring in SCIAC play, with defending SCIAC Player of the Year Brianne Brown leading the way with 15.4 points per game. Dior Williams and Stephanie Babij have scored 11.9 and 10.5 points per game this winter. Babij led all players with a 57.9 FG% serving as a presence in the paint for Oxy all season.

Whittier's Kourtney Zilbert is third in the conference with 14.8 ppg and Tina Merlino also boasts double figures in SCIAC play with 10.7 ppg. Emily Carillo from the University of La Verne leads all players with 15.5 ppg and Ashley Paul finished SCIAC play with 13.1 ppg for the Leos. Carillo was second to Babij with a 53.8 FG% followed by Zilbert (52.4), Williams (51.1) and Brown (49.7).

Both La Verne and Redlands were the biggest three-point shooting threats with 37.6 and 37.5 3FG%, respectively. Oxy was 36.3% from long range and Whittier struggled from behind the arc shooting just 24.2% overall. Kayleen Kaaiai (ULV - 45.5%), Ali Bueno (UR - 44.2%) and Brown (41.5%) were among the top-five most accurate three-point shooters in the conference.

At the charity stripe the Leopards again led the way (70.0%) followed by Redlands (67.7%) and Whittier (64.6%) in third and fourth. Occidental combined to shoot 62% from the free-throw line this season.

Occidental has held its opponents to 49.2 ppg to lead the SCIAC and have won by the largest margin at +15.1 points. Redlands won by 12.5 ppg on average, holding their opposition to 50 points. La Verne also won by double figures, on average, with a +10.4 margin of victory. Whittier played closer games this season, winning by just 2.3 ppg.

The Tigers averaged 15.1 assists per game, behind 3.5 apg from Britinee Yasukochi,  followed by Redlands (14.4) and La Verne (13.2) with Whittier recording (11.1).

The Poets came away with the most steals in the league (197), which equates to 14.1 per game. Occidental finished with 13.9 while UR and ULV finished with respective 7.4 and 6.4 steals per game. Williams had by far the most steals this season with 4.36 steals per game. Zilbert finished with 3.07 spg and Brown chipped in with 2.93 spg. The Leos committed a conference low 15.4 turnovers per game and Oxy lost the ball 16.8 times per game. Redlands turned the ball over 18.6 times per game and Whittier committed 20.7 turnovers per game.

Redlands led the conference rebounding this year with 40.9 rebounds per game while Whittier grabbed 38.2 rebounds per game. Oxy finished with 35.7 rpg and ULV pulled down just 31.6 rpg. Redlands held the highest rebounding margin, with 8.7 more rebounds per game than their opponents and Oxy finished with 5.6 more rpg than the opposition.

Zilbert led all players with 8.4 rpg followed by Babij (7.9), Carillo (7.6) and Mariah Barbetti-Cort from Redlands with 7.5.

Redlands finished the regular season with 54 blocked shots while Occidental was tied for third(38) as ULV (28) and Whittier (26) rounded out the conference. Mackenzie Smith (UR) had 1.5 blocks per game, Carillo had 1.29 and Courtney Carroll (UR) finished with 1.21 per game.

The winner of both games will meet in the SCIAC Postseason Tournament Championship game, which will occur on Saturday at 5:00 p.m. on the home court of the highest remaining seed. The team that wins the SCIAC Postseason Tournament earns the conference's automatic bid into the 2009 NCAA Division III Post Season.