LOS ANGELES — Elizabeth Messick (Reno, Nev.) was two blocks shy of a triple double in 40 minutes played, Michelle Naito-Lo (Monterey Park) wiped away a poor shooting night with two clutch three pointers in the last 1:30 and rookie head coach Anahit Aladzhanyan picked up her first career win as the Occidental College women's basketball team held off Linfield 52-46 at Rush Gymnasium on Saturday.
Messick, a 6-foot-3 post player who was Second Team All-SCIAC last season, grabbed 18 rebounds, scored 12 points, blocked eight shots and had four steals and two assists to go along with it.
"To be honest I didn't even realize it until after the game when everyone was saying, 'Bitsy you did so well,'" said the junior. "In practice we've been really working on boxing out. Every time the ball went up I just told myself 'box out and go get the ball.' And the blocks came from having that mentality that 'they're not going to score on me.'"
Naito-Lo was 0 for 5 from three-point range and 1 for 11 overall before she nailed her first three to break a 44-44 tie and give Oxy a three-point lead with 1:22 left in the game. On the next possession, 30 seconds later, Naito-Lo created space with a bounce and drilled a 22-footer with 19 seconds left on the shot clock.
"I had a really supportive bench. Liz Little (Littleton, Colo.), Stephanie Young (Hong Kong) andDrew Van Vleck (Ashland, Ore.) were in my ear telling me to keep shooting and (Aladzhanyan) kept saying it too," Naito-Lo said. "So that's where the confidence to shoot with 19 seconds came from."
Naito-Lo finished with 10 points, three rebounds and two assists.
For Aladzhanyan, or "Heat" as she's referred to on campus, the win marked a perfect ending to a stressful day. The tip off was pushed back one hour due to Linfield's delayed flight and Oxy star player Makenzie Brandon (Seattle) picked up her fourth foul with more than 13 minutes remaining, giving the 26-year-old head coach plenty to worry about.
"It was everything I expected it to be," Aladzhanyan said. "We just trusted one another, we were patient, poised and we stayed aggressive throughout the game."
Brandon, who finished with 10 points and seven rebounds in 19 minutes, was forced to the bench midway through the second half after picking up her third and fourth fouls. The first was a block at Oxy's defensive end and the second was an apparent push during a trap at midcourt. As surprised as the D3hoops.com Second Team All-American was to hear the whistle blow, she was confined to the bench for 8 minutes anyway.
But when she returned, she hit a one-dribble pull up to give Oxy a 44-40 edge with 3:09 left and grabbed a big defensive rebound that set up Lo's dagger three.
Alyssa Mort (Tucson, Ariz.), known as one of the better SCIAC women's volleyball players, made her basketball debut, grabbing four rebounds and two steals in 21 minutes played.
Messick had a nifty post move to put Oxy up 40-39 and made the pass out of the post that assisted Lo's first three.
The Tigers forced 20 turnovers, but only shot 29.2 percent from the field.
Katelyn Henson led the Wildcats with 18 rebounds and Kaely Maltman had a game-high 13 points.
Marquisha Corley (Tucson, Ariz.) scored nine points and had five rebounds for the Tigers.
Oxy has won its last three games against the Northwest Conference which had two teams win NCAA tournament games in 2011-12 and one go all the way to the NCAA Division III championship game. No. 2 George Fox and No. 11 Lewis & Clark both won their NCAA first round games, then George Fox beat Lewis & Clark 52-50 in the second round and advanced all the way to the final before losing to Ill. Wesleyan 58-47.
Tigers have won nine of their last 10 games at home dating back to early January.
Linfield continues a five-game, five-day road trip against SCIAC schools tomorrow at La Verne at 7 p.m. The Wildcats also play Whittier, Pomona-Pitzer and Caltech before returning home.
The Tigers have two more non-conference games before the new SCIAC schedule has them start their quest for a sixth consecutive SCIAC championship much earlier that the last five. Oxy faces Whitworth, another Northwest Conference school, at Caltech on Nov. 23 and then hosts Oberlin on Nov. 24. The Tigers open SCIAC play against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Nov. 28 and play three conference games before the winter break, a new wrinkle to the schedule this year after the conference added Chapman as its ninth team. Traditionally, conference play has started after the winter break, but this year there will be three SCIAC games before the break.
"It's a good start to the season and we'll look to build off of it," Aladzhanyan said.