LOS ANGELES — It was a tale of two halves.
In the first, the Occidental College women's basketball team couldn't have played much better, holding Redlands to 11.5 percent shooting from the field while jumping out to a 30-11 halftime lead.
But in the second, Oxy forced shots on offense and struggled from the field, letting its first conference win of the season slip away, 45-42 at Rush Gymnasium on Tuesday.
The Tigers fall to 2-2 overall and 0-1 in SCIAC play. Redlands improves to 3-2 and 1-0.
"We played near perfect basketball in the first half and everything was clicking. We defended, we rebounded and were efficient on offense," Oxy head coach Anahit Aladzhanyan said. "The opposite was true in the second half. We couldn't have been much worse."
Redlands outscored Oxy 34-12 in the second, opening the half on a 22-4 run.
Michelle Naito-Lo scored all of her game-high 13 points in the first half, including three three-pointers. In the second, Oxy's leading guard was held scoreless, going 0 for 6 from the field.
Crystal Goodwin scored 11 points and handed out three assists for the Tigers. Elizabeth Messick had eight points, 15 rebounds, three blocks and two steals.
Despite their struggles, Oxy still had the ball and a chance to take the lead with 22 seconds left, down 43-42. Goodwin came around a stagger screen and then a ball screen. As she tried to kick it out to Ashton Reid on the left wing, the pass was intercepted by Redlands' Kaity Lykins.
Oxy fouled, sending Lykins to the line for a one-and-one with 6 seconds remaining. After Lykins hit both free throws, putting the Bulldogs up three, Naito-Lo had a contested look from the top of the key blocked by Kameran Dage as time expired.
"We had a really good opportunity to get our first conference win against a team that will most likely be in the top four at the end of the season," Aladzhanyan said. "It hurts to come up empty-handed, but we have plenty of time to get better and make up for it."
The Tigers' last lead of the game came when Messick grabbed an offensive board and hit a 12-foot jumper in the paint, giving Oxy a 42-41 lead with a little more than 1 minute to play.
Naito-Lo scored 10 points in the first 10 minutes and her most impressive bucket was a 24-foot three-pointer that put Oxy up 23-9. Oxy's biggest lead came on a Goodwin three-pointer minutes later, giving Oxy a 30-9 lead.
The Tigers played excellent defense in the first 20 minutes, holding Redlands to 3 of 26 from the field. The Bulldogs didn't get into double figures until Marika Staton hit a pair of free throws with 10 seconds left, giving them 11 points at the break.
Oxy's passing was sharp early too, with five assists on their first five baskets.
Oxy is back in action against on Friday, hosting La Sierra at 2 p.m. at Rush Gymnasium.