LOS ANGELES – Trailing by 10 points with just over 6 minutes left in the game, Occidental College seniors made huge plays to key a game-ending 14-2 run to beat the Messiah College, 45-43, on Tuesday at Rush Gymnasium.
After an Alyssa Mort basket and a pair of free throws by Tiffany Kho, Reid drove in hard from the left wing, made a tough left-handed layup and drew a foul from Gillian Glackin for a three-point play to make it a one-possession game with 3:47 left.
Then Messiah's Hannah Nichols made a short jumper to stem the Tigers' momentum, but Naito-Lo answered right back with a layup and with about 1 minute left, buried a three from the right corner to give Oxy its first lead since the 11:02 mark in the first half.
"It's always good to be in a game like this with an excellent team and to have a chance to win the game like that is incredible," Naito-Lo said. "And Ash made a huge block at the end and we were able to come away with a big win. It's a great place to be before the conference play starts again."
The Tigers improve to 7-4 on the season.
Messiah had the last shot to win the game or send it into overtime, but Reid swatted away what would have been a game-tying jumper from the left baseline by Taylor Miller as time expired.
Oxy trailed almost the entire second half, but played an almost flawless defense and attacked the basket on the other end to earn free throws and extend the game. The Tigers were 12 of 16 from the charity stripe and gave up only five attempts on defense.
No Falcon got into double digits scoring.
Messick was her usual self on defense, sending back seven shots and hauling in 10 rebounds to go along with eight points. She also came up with a couple of big steals down the stretch.
Naito-Lo finished with a game-high 18 points and Reid added seven.
Brittni Walker continued her excellent performance on the boards, grabbing eight. In the last four games, the 6-foot forward is averaging 9.3 rebounds per game.
Oxy gets back into conference action on Saturday when it travels to Thousand Oaks to face Cal Lutheran.