Pomona, Calif. - Rachel Hahn's last second three-point shot vaulted the Golden Eagles into the win column, as the women's basketball team defeated Pomona Pitzer College, 62-61. La Sierra was able to overcome a 36-23 halftime deficit for the come from behind victory, pushing their record to 1-8.
The Sagehens jumped out to an early 7-0 lead before the Golden Eagles went on a 9-0 run to take a 9-7 lead in the first quarter. Pomona Pitzer took a 13-11 lead into the second quarter, and extended the lead to 19-11 with an 8-0 run of their own. They would go on to outscore the Golden Eagles, 23-12, in the second quarter, taking the double-digit lead into the half.
The Golden Eagles closed out the third quarter with a 10-4 run over the final 3:28 of the quarter, cutting the Sagehens lead to 47-44. In the third quarter alone, La Sierra outscored the Sagehens, 21-11.
After the two teams went back-and-forth over the first five minutes of the final quarter, La Sierra finally caught the Sagehens at 55-55 with the help of two free throws by Chelsie Baham, and subsequently took the lead on a Baham jumper. With 1:24 remaining the Sagehens converted a lay-up to tie the score at 59-59 and took the lead on their next possession by knocking down a jumper with 55 seconds on the game clock.
After a timeout the Golden Eagles were unable to convert on their possession. But a missed three-point attempt by the Sagehens gave the ball back to the Golden Eagles with 22 seconds remaining on the clock. Taking advantage of the newly implemented rules, the Golden Eagles called a timeout to advance the ball to the frontcourt. After Baham received the ball from Kailee Maeda, she was stopped from getting to the basket on a defensive switch, coming off of a ball screen from Alexis Davis. But after Baham attracted the attention of the defense she was able to get the ball to Hahn, through traffic, and Hahn let it fly, finding nothing but the bottom of the net. Hahn was also fouled on the shot, but with only 1.3 seconds left on the clock the free throw glanced off the rim leaving no time for the Sagehens to get up a shot.
Alexis Davis came off of the bench to lead the Golden Eagles with 12 points, nine rebounds, four assists, and two blocked shots. Baham added 10 points and five rebounds, while Afolake Akingba contributed eight points and six rebounds. Three other players tallied seven points each in the win (Hahn, Kailee Maeda, and Korie Siets). Hahn and Siets also added eight rebounds and six rebounds, respectively.
The Golden Eagles dominated the boards by a 58-49 margin, including 20 offensive rebounds. La Sierra's bench also outscored Pomona's bench 30-14 in the game.
The women's basketball team will now look to carry the momentum into Saturday night's game with the University of La Verne. The Leopards, who are 2-2 on the season will host La Sierra in a game that is scheduled to tip-off at 6pm.
