Whittier Is Struggling Despite Swift 1-2 Punch

The Whittier College women’s basketball team has had no problem scoring this season with Katy Downs and Brenna Werner being the top two scorers in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

Downs’ 32.1-point scoring average leads the league, and her 82% free-throw percentage and 4.29 three-point baskets per game are second. Werner, who led all Division III schools with 95 three-point baskets last season, has been slowed all season because of a calf injury but she still leads the SCIAC by making 4.86 three-point baskets per game and is second in scoring at 26.7.

“One thing we can do is shoot the ball,” said Coach Trish VanOosbree, in her third year at Whittier. “We like to push the ball up court as fast as we can and make it an up-tempo game.”

Scoring, however, has not been enough for the Poets, 9-12 overall and 2-8 in the conference, although it proved to be plenty in Tuesday night’s 85-71 victory over Redlands.

With no player taller than 5 feet 9, VanOosbree has had to rely on quickness and a run-and-shoot offense.

“We’re having a losing season, but we’ve been playing pretty well,” VanOosbree said. “Our problem is that we’re just too short. We get outrebounded every game by at many times more than 20.”

Downs and Werner have benefited from the Poets’ four-guard offense. Both players are on pace to break nearly all of Whittier’s offensive records.

Downs, a 5-7 senior, has the ability to penetrate and draw fouls. During one stretch this season, she made 18 consecutive free throws and her 2.57 steals per game are fifth in the conference.

“We’re completely a run-and-shoot team, but I like it,” said Downs, who had a career-high 39 points in a game this season. “We seldom make three passes on a possession, so it gives us more opportunities to score, and I like shooting.”

Werner, a 5-7 junior, said that the Poets’ goal is to win at least one more game this season and to outrebound an opponent.

“We’re not winning, but we know that we’re a talented team,” Werner said. “That’s why it is so frustrating for us being so short. We play so hard, but we keep coming up on the losing end.”

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Melissa Wood of Cal Lutheran did not make a three-point basket in the Regals’ 70-64 victory over Occidental last week, ending a school-record 65-game streak in which the Regals made at least one. The last time Occidental had not made a three-point basket was Nov. 26, 1993 against Concordia, Minn.

With 326 points, Woods, a 5-9 junior, moved into eighth place on the Regals’ all-time scoring list and trails Evelyn Albert by 19 points for seventh. Albert’s sister, Nicole, is the all-time leader in assists with 400 and steals with 412.

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Stephanie Adams made only one of six three-point shots, but the one she made with three seconds remaining gave Cal State San Bernardino a 61-60 victory over Cal Poly Pomona on Saturday.

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Freshman Noelle Gettemy of Cal State Los Angeles made four three-point baskets in the Golden Eagles’ 68-51 loss to Grand Canyon to break the school record for most made in a season with 55.