The Pomona-Pitzer women’s basketball team lost 68-51 to La Sierra Tuesday night.
La Sierra gained a lead in the first half, yet with five minutes left before halftime, the Sagehens rallied to bring the score to 31-27. Sophomore transfer Erin Edmonds PZ ’14 led the Sagehens early by scoring six of the team’s first 11 points, and she had ten at the half on 3-3 shooting.
Despite the Sagehens’ momentum from the half, the Golden Eagles fought hard to increase the gap. La Sierra guard, Joirdan Jones, scored two three-pointers early in the second half and followed with a breakaway steal and layup to push the score to 45-32. Emi Hashizume PZ ’14 responded with a three-pointer, but the Golden Eagles finished the game strong with a 15-2 run.
Vanessa Ho PO ’13 led the Sagehens with 14 points, followed by Hashizume with 13 and Edmonds with 11.
This loss puts the Sagehens at 0-6 for the season after a 72-49 loss against UC Santa Cruz and a 103-83 loss against Arizona Christian this weekend.
Despite these early struggles, Asha Gipson PO ’12 explained, “We’ve played some of the toughest competitors that we are going to see all season.”
The tough preseason schedule will help prepare the Hens for regular season play.
“I am heartened by the fact that each game we have shown a lot of improvement and we continue to build and progress as a team,” Gipson said. “The next time we play those teams we’ll be ready.”
The Sagehens will get another shot against La Sierra on Monday, and Gipson said the team is “looking forward to working cohesively as a team and getting our first win.”
The Sagehens are a young team this season with only one senior—Gipson—and two juniors—Ho and Alexis Sones PO ’13. Sones is a transfer student and therefore another new addition to the team. These three upperclassmen have demonstrated the benefits of experience: Gipson tallied eight points, ten rebounds, and three steals against UC Santa Cruz, Sones earned 11 points against the Banana Slugs, and Ho scored a season-high of 14 on Tuesday night.
“With such a young team we really look toward the upperclassmen to lead by example,” Gipson said.
As for the underclassmen, Edmonds has lived up to expectations, helping run the offense in each of the Sagehens’ games so far. Ruthie Shapiro PZ ’15 has also started the year strong, scoring a team-high 11 points against Pacific (Oregon), and Maria Weyrauch PO ’15 has added exceptional height to Pomona-Pitzer, a team that is often outmatched physically.
The Sagehens will next be in action when they play at La Sierra at 7:30 p.m. on Monday night.