LOS ANGELES — One year ago, Occidental versus Claremont-Mudd-Scripps was a battle between two legendary SCIAC women's basketball coaches. All-time SCIAC wins leader Jodie Burton was on the sidelines for CMS and Oxy's Heidi VanDerveer, who won four consecutive SCIAC championships, was calling the timeouts for the Tigers.

But this year, it was two 27-year-old rookies looking for their first career SCIAC win.

After her team shot just 21 percent from the field and went 0 for 11 from the three-point line in the first half, Anahit Aladzhanyan's Tigers went inside to Elizabeth Messick (Reno, Nev.) and the 6-foot-3 post player put Oxy on her back.

Messick scored eight of her game-high 18 points during a 14-3 run to open the second half and give Oxy a comfortable cushion it rode to a 60-46 win over CMS in its SCIAC opener at Rush Gymnasium on Thursday.

"Heat," as she's referred to on campus, beat fellow newbie Kristen Dowling of CMS (1-4, 0-1 SCIAC) in the first of what might be several matchups between the SCIAC's two newest leaders.

"We made a conscious decision to lock down on defense, attack the basket and look inside in the second half," Aladzhanyan said. "(Messick) was amazing in the post and on the glass. It's great to start out the conference season with a win."

Oxy (2-2, 1-0 SCIAC) finished the game 0 for 15 from beyond the arc, but their junior center had another career night. Messick had 16 rebounds — 15 at the defensive end — shot 8 for 12, had two blocks and no turnovers in 30 minutes for her third double-double in four games.

2011-12 SCIAC Player of the Year Makenzie Brandon (Seattle, Wash.) added 16 points, 11 rebounds, two steals and two assists. The 5-foot-11 senior forward had seven offensive boards and 10 points by halftime.

CMS cut Oxy's lead to seven, but then Messick and Brandon combined for one more late run, an 8-0 push that gave the Tigers a 15-point lead, 56-41, with 1:22 left.

The Tigers won the rebounding battle 44-39, with 17 of Oxy's boards coming at the offensive end.

"(Messick) and (Brandon) stepped up big-time for us," Aladzhanyan said. "They were great inside and their rebounding gave us extra possessions and often limited the Athenas to one shot."

Part of the reason for Oxy's success on the glass was both teams' lack of success shooting the ball in the first half.

The Tigers and Athenas struggled to score in the first 20 minutes with Oxy holding a 24-23 lead at the break. The Tigers were 9 for 43 and the Athenas weren't much better at 8 for 25.

Midway through the second half, Alyssa Mort (Tucson, Ariz.) gave Oxy a spark off the bench, scoring six points in just under 3 minutes from the 10:16 mark to 7:51.

"Mort was huge off of the bench with timely shots and stops on defense," Aladzhanyan said.

Oxy's three-point shooting woes were bad to say the least, but as bad as the Tigers were shooting the ball they turned it over just seven times and forced CMS into 20 turnovers.

Liz Little (Littleton, Colo.) and Michelle Naito-Lo (Monterey Bay) each had career highs with six and five assists, respectively. Naito-Lo had 10 points and three steals.

"Both Liz and Michelle took care of the ball and found teammates all night long," Aladzhanyan said.

Oxy continues SCIAC play against their newest conference opponent at Chapman on Saturday at 5 p.m.

"We're glad to get a win tonight and we'll start preparing for Chapman first thing tomorrow," Aladzhanyan said.