The fledgling Sagehens women’s basketball team took flight, pecking their way to victory and forcing the Athenas walk back trophyless with togas dragging.
In their final home game of the season, the Pomona-Pitzer (P-P) women’s basketball pushed their conference record to 2-12 with a second half comeback win against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS). What initially looked like a sure thing for the 2-13 Athenas quickly turned into a display of P-P dominance that resulted in a 67-54 win on Saturday, Feb. 10 at Voelkel Gymnasium.
The Sagehens got off to a slow start in the first quarter, appearing frazzled by the Athenas’ strong press and rapid ball movement. They quickly turned the ball over six times and ran up their foul count to five. The Hens only scored 12 points in the first quarter and 16 in the second, ending the half with a shot and a foul that resulted in a three point play for CMS. Capitalizing on P-P’s disorganization, the Athenas’ first half momentum allowed them to go into the break leading 34-28.
“We started off the first half kind of slow,” forward Katie Drais PO ’26 said.
However, as noted by Drais, the Hens looked like a different team after halftime; their play was faster, more controlled and the CMS defense immediately began to crack under the pressure.
“At halftime Coach Woo got on us and she was like ‘we don’t play this brand of basketball,” Drais said. “And then we came out and played a great second half.”
Drais scored 10 points this game, nine of which were from three pointers, propelling the Sagehen’s momentum for the rest of the game. After the explosive charge spearheaded by Drais, Abby Homan PO ’27 and Emily Lee PZ ’26 caught fire, sinking a cumulative nine from behind the arc, compared to three total in the first two quarters. Homan credited ball movement as key to their scoring run.
“Quick passes opened up threes for a lot of us,” Homan said, who scored nine of her 16 points from outside the line. “We hit at least nine or more threes second half, so it was great to get everyone involved.”
Operating with efficiency from outside the arc turned the tides for the Saghens, as almost the whole team had a hot hand or three by game close. The first P-P lead came in the middle of the third quarter after two consecutive threes by Homan. Two missed free throws and a shot clock violation by CMS moved the momentum in favor of P-P as they finished the third quarter with a tight lead of 47-46.
The Hens’ dominance on the boards played a major factor in this run by P-P. In the second half, the team had 15 rebounds. Drais commented on this, noting their ability to capitalize in critical moments.
“I think rebounds were really important for us,” Drais said. “We just did a great job of sharing the ball.”
By the time the fourth quarter rolled around, P-P’s defense had adjusted to the Athena’s high press, and they only allowed 12 CMS points in the third quarter and 8 in the fourth. P-P reached their first double-digit lead with a little over five minutes to go after Emily Lee PZ ’26 made a layup — two of her 22 points of the night.
“I’m feeling really ecstatic, because we worked really hard to get to this point,” Lee said. “I felt that we played really good, unselfish basketball today.”
The P-P women’s basketball team is incredibly young, with only one upperclassmen of the 10 rostered players. With a less than ideal conference record, the players are hoping to use their final two games to learn and build a foundation for next year. Still, Saturday’s game was a bright spot for the Sagehens.
“It’s been a lot of improvement throughout the year,” Homan said. “We’re young, but we don’t use that as an excuse.”
The Sagehens will play Cal Lutheran in their last game of the season on Saturday, Feb. 17 on the road.
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