LOS ANGELES, CA – The Occidental women's basketball team jumped out at the opening tip en route to a 78-37 win over Caltech on Thursday evening.

Occidental rushed out to an early lead thanks to solid shooting and intense defensive pressure. The Tigers scored on eight of their first 10 possessions while forcing Caltech into seven turnovers during that stretch. The home squad held their largest lead of frame at 30-6 with 13:01 left until intermission.

The first half settled down from that point forward. Caltech shrunk their deficit by scoring nine unanswered points over the next five-plus minutes. The first-year trio of Stephanie Wong, Esther Du and Ann Chen put together the scoring spurt. Caltech held the Tigers scoreless for just over six minutes by forcing them into three turnovers and 13 consecutive missed field goal attempts in helping get the score to 30-15.

From that point the rest of the first half was played at a fairly even clipped. Occidental eventually took a 39-19 lead at the halftime horn.

Caltech posted a plus-three rebounding edge (23-20) during the first 20 minutes but couldn't overcome a 19 turnover half. The home squad took advantage of those miscues by holding a 14-3 edge in points off of turnovers.

The story was similar in the second half as the teams scored nearly identically to the first half. Occidental equaled its first half output by tallying another 39 points half while Caltech notched 18.

Rachel Hess and Grace Leishman each tallied a team best seven points for the Beavers. Ann Chen chipped in a five-point, six-rebound night.

Occidental's Liz Little tallied a double-double with 10 points and 10 assists while no committing a turnover.

The Beavers return home on Saturday night when they host Whitter at 5:00 p.m.