Women’s Basketball Tops Austin College 70-58 in OT Thriller

The Caltech women’s basketball team took on the Austin College (TX) Kangaroos on Wednesday in an afternoon clash at Braun Gymnasium, where the Beavers nabbed an exhilarating 70-58 overtime victory in front of the home crowd.

The result is a significant one for head coach Annie Tarakchian and the program, which has now won three of its last four contests.

With the win, the group now moves to 1-0 in overtime this season. Despite being forced into the extra period, Caltech led the game for nearly 36 minutes and never gave up more than a three-point lead.

Junior wing-forward and SCIAC Offensive Athlete of the Week Kathryn Edwards (Centennial, Colo. / Araphoe) earned the first points of the game as she finished on a strong layup less than a minute into the action.

The group jumped out to a massive 15-2 lead just over five minutes into the contest thanks to buckets from junior guard Kodie Vondra (Livingston, Mont. / Park), junior guard Saumya Chauhan (Fremont, Calif. / Mission San Jose), senior guard Hope Arnett (Torrance, Calif. / Chadwick School) and two more field goals from Edwards. Austin College would begin to find their offense as the period continued, though Caltech held a 17-10 lead at the end of the first period.

The second quarter belonged to the Kangaroos, who caught up to the Beavers before taking the lead at 30-27 as the first half came to a close.

Caltech quickly re-took the lead as the third quarter began thanks to their strong play on both sides of the ball. The Kangaroos began the half with possession, though Vondra stole the ball from the guests before finding Chauhan who finished a good layup on the fast break. Chauhan downed a deep shot moments later to put the Beavers back on top 32-30.

The two groups traded baskets throughout the quarter though it was the Beavers who held a 42-41 lead going into the fourth quarter.

The Beavers held onto the lead for most of the fourth, though Austin would not go away; the visitors connected on a pair of 3-pointers in the final two minutes to push the contest to overtime.

The visitors’ late surge did not dismay Caltech, who posted a dominant performance in the extra five minutes as they outscored the Kangaroos 13-1. Caltech forced Austin into two turnovers and a 0-for-9 shooting performance in the extra period en route to the 70-58 victory.

It was one of the strongest defensive outputs of the season for the Beavers, who forced Austin into 21 turnovers with 15 coming via steals. Caltech made the most of their extra possessions as they scored 24 points off turnovers.

The team also forced the visitors into shooting 22-for-69 (.319) from the field while going 25-for-66 from the field (.379) themselves.

The Beavers tied their season-best in turnovers through regulation with just 11.

The group drained 14 free throws while the Kangaroos made eight; Caltech scored eight fast break points to the Kangaroos’ two.

Edwards led the game in scoring with a season-high 26 points on 10-for-20 shooting and six made free throws; she fell one rebound short of a double-double with a team-high nine boards. The Colorado native also led the game in blocks, with two.

Chauhan and Arnett both logged double-digits in points, with 16 and 12, respectively.

Arnett, Robinson and Vondra each collected four assists in the contest to lead all other players. Edwards and Arnett each nabbed four steals to lead the game.

Tarakchian was pleased with how the group performed in their final contest of the calendar year.

“[It was] our first overtime game this season and our team locked into the plan,” said Tarakchian. “We’ll continue to work on all of our pieces individually and collectively, but it’s really nice to go into the new year with a win.”

With the result, the program improves to 4-5 on the season and 4-4 when excluding Div. I opponents. The group will now focus on SCIAC play as they face off against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges on Saturday, Jan. 6 matchup at 4 p.m. on the road. Follow the action online at gocaltech.com/coverage.

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