Tigers Fall In 2OT To Dominican

It's called the Occidental/Caltech Classic for a reason.

Dominican University (Ill.) outlasted Occidental in the first game of the tournament, finally pulling away in the last minute of the second overtime.

The game seemed destined for a third OT until Becky Christofferson hit a clutch 3-pointer from the top of the key to break a tie and help send Dominican back to its hotel with a rousing 73-68 win.

"It feels great," said Christofferson, who led Dominican with 23 points and hit five 3-pointers. "We're the kind of team that never gives up. We've gotta play every possession 'til the end."

Dominican will play Sunday afternoon against Caltech at Occidental's Rush Gymnasium, while the Tigers host Ohio Wesleyan at 2 p.m.

Occidental sophomore Makenzie Brandon led both teams with 28 points. After Christofferson's big 3-pointer put Dominican up 69-66, Brandon nailed an 18-foot jumper to close the gap to 69-68 with 49 seconds left in the game.

But a pretty drive and finish off the glass by Dominican's Kayla Blom upped the lead to three with 35 seconds remaining.

The Tigers' final attempt to tie the game with a long distance shot of its own was off the mark with 15 seconds left. And, fittingly, Christofferson ended the suspense when she hit two free throws to close out the scoring.

Neither team had scored in the second OT until Christofferson's trey with minute left.

With 2:27 left in regulation, Dominican's Sarah Budz, who finished with 15 points on 7 of 9 shooting, fouled out with the score knotted at 60. At that point it seemed the Tigers were poised to take control of the game, but neither team scored in the rest of regulation.

Then Christofferson pretty much took over. She scored four of her team's six points in the first overtime and five of seven in the second.

"I think we had our opportunities," Occidental coach Heidi VanDermeer said. "It came down to them making a couple of plays at the end. I thought we battled. We competed. We have great character kids and we'll come back. We'll compete tomorrow as well."

Stephanie Babij scored 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds. She seems almost all the way back from a preseason injury.

"We put ourselves in position to win at times," Babij said. "We had our chances. We just had some critical mistakes and didn't capitalize when we could have."

Brandon said she thinks the tough non-conference schedule will only strengthen the Tigers.

"We have a young team, but we have a lot of talent. I'm not worried about it," said Brandon. "I'd rather it happen now than later. We're pushing ourselves against some good teams to get ready when we hit SCIAC. I love playing against good competition."