Congrats to the Occidental Tigers on winning the S.C.I.A.C. tournament final, and to the Claremont-Mudd-Scripts Athenas for giving them all they could handle. Great game.

S.C.I.A.C. will be losing a number of fine student-athletes to graduation, but every team in the league seems to have a lot of youth and some veteran leadership coming back. Next year should be very competitive and another exciting season for the fans.

Thanks, ladies.

Early season action for the 2010-11 season has begun. Redlands, Cal Lutheran, and Occidental have to be considered the favorites. Redlands and Cal Lutheran have played some ranked opponents in the preseason and have kept pace.

Congratulations to Courtney Carroll of the University of Redlands for her selection to the 2010 D3 Women's Basketball All-American Third Team. I am well aware that the competition must have been fierce, but I believe the 2009 - 2010 S.C.I.A.C. season showcased at least one or two more players worthy of selection.

OxyBob,

Were you able to make the semifinals or finals? Firsthand impressions? Sounds like the young ladies on all the teams competed every second.

WestCoastFan

Redlands 55   Occidental 54 (overtime)

Best wishes to Redlands in the postseason. Represent the S.C.I.A.C. well. Both Redlands and Occidental should contend next year, along with Cal Lutheran.

Occidental 72   Claremont MS 69

Redlands 63   Cal Lutheran 61

Occidental beats LaVerne (Oxy in 1st))
Redlands defeats Cal Lutheran (Redlands in 2nd, CL in 3rd)
Claremont MS over Whittier ((Whittier can still take 4th)
Caltech gets by Pomona-Pitzer (good year for Caltech)

2/13 Occidental spreads the minutes around as it defeats Caltech

Biggest games leading up to the conference playoffs:

2/18 Redlands at Cal Lutheran
        Claremont at Whittier

2/20 Redlands at Occidental
        Cal Lutheran at Whittier

Occidental, Cal Lutheran, and Redlands have earned playoff spots and are jockeying for position. Whittier is in the driver's seat for the fourth and final playoff spot.

OxyBob,

While I'm primarily a Claremont booster, I love Oxy's heart. I was hoping the Athenas could take a game or two from the Tigers this year but, alas, it wasn't meant to be.

With the regular season heading into its final weeks, I know Occidental's upperclassmen have been logging some monster minutes. How's the team's mindset with the conference playoffs in sight?

In closing, great post about Caltech. Those ladies COMPETE every time they take the floor.

In D3 (women's) basketball, I assume it's the official scorekeeper who is responsible for keeping track of and reporting all stats to the conference -- including making the call, for example, whether a pass constitutes an assist or whether a rebound is made by an individual or the team. Out of curiosity, I'd be interested to know if official scorekeepers are assigned to games by the conference or by the home team. Might anyone know?

Pomona-Pitzer with an overtime win versus Whittier.

La Verne gives CLU a game, but Cal Lutheran has too much depth.

There were no surprises January 7 during the first night of conference play. Cal Lutheran, Redlands, Whittier, and Occidental all triumphed.

GF, thank you for your gracious welcome. I very much enjoy the game of basketball and the camaraderie, competitive fire, and sportsmanship shown by the scholar-athletes throughout the S.C.I.A.C. Best wishes to all.

It will be interesting to see what seasoned observers have to say about S.C.I.A.C. play in 2009-2010. Oxy returns a strong core, but may find making it three conference championships in a row to be a bit of a chore. I would have bet on U of Redlands before the season started. However, with what must be eight to ten new players in the fold, Cal Lutheran has been enjoying some real success against some nationally ranked teams. Whittier should be good, too. In fact, generally speaking, the entire conference shows improved play.