The Colorado College women's basketball team celebrated the end of Block 3 by acing its first test of the 2018-19 season on Friday night in the Whittier Tournament.
Nia Duplain,
McKenzee Gertz and
Jade Odom combined for 53 points and 28 rebounds to lead the Tigers to a 67-53 victory over Occidental College in CC's season opener in Southern California.
Duplain recorded her first career double-double with 15 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. The junior guard connected on all five of her shots from the floor and four of six free throws.
Odom nearly recorded a double-double, scoring a career-best 20 points and grabbing nine rebounds. The sophomore point guard also dished out three assists.
Gertz rounded out the terrific trio by scoring 18 points and hauling in eight boards. The sophomore winger made seven of 11 field-goal attempts, including four of seven from behind the arc.
Senior guard
Casey Torbet dished out a game-high seven assists, scored six points and grabbed six rebounds.
Trailing 18-16 early in the second quarter, Odom connected on a pair of threes to ignite and finish an 8-0 run that gave Colorado College a lead it would not relinquish.
Occidental trailed by five after Alyssa Ramlochan scored with 2:49 remaining before halftime, but Gertz scored four points during an 8-2 surge that gave CC an 11-point cushion after 20 minutes.
Colorado College built a 21-point lead after Odom scored on a layup with 2:50 to play in the third quarter and maintained a double-digit lead until Ramlochan sank a pair of free throws to make the score 61-53 with 1:57 remaining in the game.
Three-pointers from Gertz and Odom during the final 90 seconds squashed any thoughts of an Oxy comeback.
CC shot a little better than 46 percent from the floor and finished with a 44-31 advantage on the glass.
Ramlochan led Occidental with 14 points and eight rebounds.
Colorado College faces tournament host Whittier on Saturday at 5 p.m. PT.
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