Occidental women’s basketball took home the SCIAC Championship with a 66-58 victory against California Lutheran University Feb. 24. This win secured the team an automatic bid for the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2011.
The Tigers will go on to play in the first round of the NCAA DIII women’s basketball bracket against Hardin-Simmons University on their home court in Abilene, Texas, 6:00 p.m. PST March 1.
According to women’s basketball head coach Anahit Aladzhanyan, Hardin-Simmons University leads the nation in DIII scoring, averaging over 80 points per game.
“We are preparing our game plan using film and stats while simultaneously preparing for either of the two teams we may face in the second round on Saturday,” Aladzhanyan said via email. “This has been such a special season and we are excited to represent Oxy in the NCAA tournament.”
Center Ainsley Shelsta (sophomore), who was recently named First-Team All-SCIAC, said that the entire team is also anticipating and preparing for the upcoming game on the national stage.
“It’s challenging because we haven’t seen this team before, so all of the players and their game is new to us,” Shelsta said via email. “But we are just really trying to focus on playing our best game possible and doing everything to make sure we are ready.”
Coming off of the recent SCIAC Championship, Aladzhanyan said that she is incredibly proud of the entire team, especially for taking home an on the road win at California Lutheran’s home court.
“[The game] was thrilling, we had a great turnout of fans who made the atmosphere awesome! I’m incredibly proud of our team and the way we have completed all season,” Aladzhanyan said via email. “This win was particularly dominant and bigtime.”
The SCIAC Championship was a close game, with both teams fighting for the title over the four quarters. An essential component to their win, according to point guard Dominique Cabading (sophomore), was that the atmosphere felt like an Occidental home game.
“So many families and friends and students showed up to cheer us on and it made the environment so much better,” Cabading said via email. “The game was back and forth up until the last second because both teams were so talented”
Occidental opened up the first quarter with a free throw by Toni Thompson, who was named SCIAC Postseason Most Valuable Player, ending the game with a total of 25 points against California Lutheran, and reaching a total of 1,000 career points.
After a closely contested first two quarters, the Tigers took half by two points, leading 34-32. Cabading said that the team used the momentum generated before halftime to push for an almost 20 point lead at the middle of the third quarter. However, the Regals fought back to close the gap to a six point game with only four minutes left on the clock. As time ran out, Occidental’s Paige Yasukochi (sophomore) hit a clutch 3-pointer that secured the Tiger’s lead. The Tigers used a strong defense and multiple made free throws to create more space, ending the game with 66-58 and a SCIAC Championship title.
According to Shelsta, this electric win wasn’t an accident, but the culmination of the work that the team put in over the course of the entire season.
“From the beginning of this season our main goal was to make it to the conference tournament, and somewhere along the way that goal transformed into winning the tournament,” Shelsta said via email. “Early in the season we knew that we were a special team that was going to have a great year if we were determined and put the work in. Everyone on the team put in so much hard work and made so many sacrifices, so to see it all pay off is an incredible feeling, and we are all so excited to go to the NCAA tournament.”
