CLAREMONT — After struggling from the field in the first half, the Occidental College women's basketball team caught serious fire in the second.
The Tigers made 10 field goals in a row, went on a 24-0 run and scored on 17 straight possessions during an impressive run early in the second half that quickly squashed any hopes Pomona-Pitzer had of upsetting the Tigers in a 65-46 road win on Saturday.
Oxy (9-5, 5-1 SCIAC) shot just 7-for-29 from the field in the first 20 minutes and opened the second half with three consecutive misses.
But the lid on the rim that had Oxy behind 24-22 at the break quickly came off.
Marquisha Corley (Tucson, Ariz.) had four buckets, Liz Little (Littleton, Colo.) and Elizabeth Messick (Reno, Nev.) each had two, Makenzie Brandon (Seattle) had one and Katelyn Rowe (Carlsbad) finished the perfect stretch with one.
Corley finally missed a layup with 13:24 on the clock, but quickly cleaned up her own miss for another score.
"We just got hot at the beginning of the second half," Occidental coach Anahit Aladzhanyan said. "We couldn't get much going in the first half, but we stuck with it, refocused and really got going in the second."
Oxy was good on defense too. The Tigers didn't allow a point in the second half until Alice Timken hit a three from the right wing with just more than 12 minutes remaining.
"Maybe the most overlooked part was our defense," Aladzhanyan said. "We blocked shots, got out in the passing lanes and cleaned up the defensive boards."
The possession streak ended when Messick missed a 12-footer and the ball bounced off of her arm as she scrambled for the offensive rebound with 9:22 left.
Brandon finished with a game-high 18 points, eight steals, seven rebounds and six assists. Messick scored 14 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, Corley scored 12 points and Little had nine points and three assists.
Alexis Sones led the Sagehens (2-10, 2-4 SCIAC) with 15 points and Juliah Shay Kim had 12.
Oxy has a week off before taking on Whittier in Rush Gymnasium next Saturday at 5 p.m.