Caltech’s Men’s and Women’s B-ball Teams Smash Upside-down Records, Score Wins

The Caltech women’s basketball team broke a 5-year, 64-game conference losing streak with a 59–58 win over the University of La Verne on Wednesday, February 18.

The win caps a banner week for Caltech basketball, as the men’s team notched its third straight home SCIAC win with a 70–69 victory over La Verne on February 17.

The men’s three SCIAC wins are the most in a single season since 1960–61, when the Beavers topped four conference foes, and equal the total number of SCIAC wins over the previous 42 years.

For the Caltech Women, Junior Stephanie Wong drilled the game-winning three-pointer with 7.2 seconds remaining to propel the Caltech Beavers to its first SCIAC win in five years.

The Beavers shot a blistering 49 percent from the field and dished out a season-high 17 assists to overcome a -12 rebounding margin and 23-shot disadvantage. Caltech is now 1-22 overall and 1-13 in the SCIAC, while La Verne drips to 10-14 (7-8).

“This was a total team effort – everyone found ways to contribute,” Head Coach Sandra Marbut said. “We talked all night about playing our game and not worrying about anything else, so we went right at them. It was on our terms from start to finish.”

For the men’s team effort, see our report here: Caltech Basketball Shakes Off 55-Game Losing Streak, Discovers a Winning Formula

Both teams face off against Occidental College on Saturday, February 21, at Braun Gym, in their last home games of the season. The women tip-off at 5 p.m. and the men at 7 p.m.