PASADENA, CA – The Buena Vista women's basketball team pulled away with a second half surge en route to posting an 87-61 win over Caltech on Saturday afternoon.

For the first time in program history, Caltech started five first-years as Kristin Anderson, Grace Leishman, Ann Chen, Esther Du and Stephanie Wong began the game at tip-off.

The game's opening seven minutes saw the lead change hands six times. Neither team held a lead larger than five points during the opening stretch. The contest's momentum shifted in the visitors favor with 13:33 left in the half.

With Caltech holding a 15-14 lead, Buena Vista went on a 16-3 scoring spurt to take a 30-18 advantage with 8:52 left in the frame. It was the largest lead of the first half by either team.

Caltech chipped away at their deficit and got within 37-32 after an Anderson three-pointer with 2:31 on the clock. However, Buena Vista clamped down on defense and scored six of the final seven points of half to take a 43-33 lead at intermission.

The visitors grew their lead to 17 points on four occasions before the final stanza's halfway point. Trailing 60-43 with 13:16 left in the contest, Caltech strung together a made foul shot, lay-up and three-pointer on consecutive possessions to pull within 60-49. However, the home team couldn't get their deficit under double figures the rest of the way.

Buena Vista held Caltech to four field goals down the stretch while making 11 of their own to pull away for the win.

Wong had a game high 28 points to pace the Caltech offense. Her point total and 11 made field goals represented season highs for all Caltech players. Anderson contributed a 13-point effort in 23 minutes of action. The 5-1 Du had a 10-rebound afternoon to go along with six points from the floor.

The five first-year starters combined to contribute over 85 percent of the scoring offense (52 points).

The Buena Vista duo of Susan Kies and Brooke Wehle each scored a team high 21 points for the Iowa school.