Looking to build their second five-game win streak of the season in front of their home crowd at Gilbert Arena, the Cal Lutheran Regals were unable to overcome an 11-point deficit and were defeated by the visiting Occidental College Tigers by a score of 54-49 Saturday evening.

Box Score: CLU 49, OXY 54 - F

Cal Lutheran sophomore forward Brianna Parker led the well-balance Regal offense with ten points as nine of the 11 Cal Lutheran players were able to score against Occidental in the loss.

Known for creating commanding leads early and building upon them in recent games, the iron was unkind to Cal Lutheran throughout the entire game as a number of Regal shots would dance around the inside of their basket but refuse to fall through the net on a number of occasions.

Compounding the problem was Occidental's success from the field as the Tigers shot 42% from the field in the first half, and 40% in the second to hand the Regals their first loss in two weeks.

Even though CLU was able to take an early lead, Occidental would respond by going on an 11-4 run to take a 17-10 lead at the midway point of the first half.

Thanks to timely baskets by Starla Wright and Channing Fleischmann, the Regals were able to erase the Tigers' initial advantage, and take a one-point lead of their own with two minutes left in the first half. But that Regal lead would soon disappear when Occidental scored five straight points to take a 26-22 lead into the locker room after 20 minutes of action.

As was the case earlier in the game, Cal Lutheran battled back in the second half and slowly chipped away at the deficit that faced them once the game resumed.

A strong start for CLU helped them tie the game at 28 apiece until Occidental responded with another run of their own to build the lead back up to 11 points.

Cal Lutheran would construct one more run of their own, capitalizing on a number of Occidental turnovers to decrease the lead to a meager three points during the final minute of play.

But that would be as close as the Regals would come to eliminating the once-sizable Tiger advantage as CLU's four-game win streak was snapped in the process.

The Regals will return to action Thursday evening in their next SCIAC game against Pomona-Pitzer (3-15, 1-6 SCIAC), tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at Gilbert Arena.