EAGLE ROCK (Nov. 27, 2015) – Senior Stephanie Wong (Palos Verdes Estates, Calif. / Palos Verdes Peninsula) tied her own program record with seven three-pointers in another 24-point performance that fueled the Caltech women's basketball team to a 79-38 win over Illinois Tech in the opening game of the Caltech-Occidentall Fall Classic on Friday afternoon.
The Beavers improve to 1-1 overall while the Scarlet Hawks drop to 0-4.
Wong kicked things off three treys over the first two-and-a-half minutes to open up a 9-0 lead, which junior Kate Lewis (San Antonio, Texas / Ronald Reagan) made took to double digits as she went 1-for-2 at the free throw line. Illinois Tech knocked down consecutive threes but Wong hit her fourth in as many minutes to keep Caltech well in front and the rest of the Beavers soon joined in, ending the quarter on a 17-2 run to lead 30-8 at the first break.
A reshuffled Beavers lineup took a few minutes to get on the board in the second quarter, but did manage to limit the Scarlet Hawks to just two points over the first eight minutes while eventually building up a 30-point lead with 2:42 remaining in the half. Illinois Tech continued to enjoy brief spurts of offense but could not keep pace with Wong, who sank another three three-pointers in the first three minutes of the third quarter and hit her seventh three minutes later. Caltech held Illinois Tech scoreless over the final 6:38 to record the 41-point victory.
Wong also hit her only two-point field goal to go 8-for-12 and added six rebounds and six assists without committing a single turnover. Lewis matched her season-opening score as well with 16 points and completed the double-double with 14 rebounds, in addition to four assists. Junior Michelle Wong (Palos Verdes Estates, Calif. / Palos Verdes Peninsula) and freshman Madeline Schemel (Westport, Conn. / Staples) rounded out the double-figure scorers with 13 and 12 points, respectively. Wong was 3-for-6 from long range, grabbed six rebounds, made three steals and dished out six assists while Schemel pulled down seven boards and shot 6-for-8 from the field. Freshman Nika Haleftiras (San Diego, Calif. / Our Lady of Peace) also impressed with nine rebounds, four assists and four steals and freshmanMadelyn Stroder (Springfield, Mo. / Greenwood Laboratory) scored her first career points on her only hot of the day.
Head Coach Sandra Marbut and the Beavers will host UC Merced (0-6) on Saturday, Nov. 28 at 3 p.m. following the Occidental vs. Illinois Tech matchup at 1 p.m.