CLAREMONT, Calif. - Caleigh Edwards scored 18 of her career-high 31 points in the fourth quarter to help the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's basketball team cut a 19-point deficit down to five, but Occidental was able to hold on down the stretch and take a 65-57 win over the Athenas on Wednesday evening at Roberts Pavilion. 

The loss drops CMS to 17-6 overall and 11-3 in the SCIAC, but the Athenas stay tied for first with Cal Lutheran, which also fell on Wednesday night to La Verne. Occidental improves to 12-10 overall and 7-6 in the SCIAC with the win.

CMS trailed 51-32 early in the fourth, with Edwards started the comeback effort with a jumper. After Haylie Wang converted a lay-up, Edwards found Katie Resendiz for another lay-up to make it 51-38 with 6:10 left. 

Edwards hit a jumper to close the gap to 11, and then hit a three to answer an Occidental three to make it 54-43 with 4:51 to go. An Edwards three-point play got it down to single digits with 4:31 to go, and her jumper with 50 seconds left got CMS within 59-54, but Occidental answered with a basket out of a timeout and was able to hold on. 

Edwards finished with right rebounds and three steals to go with her 31 points. Wang had eight points and 10 rebounds for the Athenas, while Resendiz finished with eight points and four steals. 

CMS will be back in action on Saturday when it travels to Pomona-Pitzer for a 4 p.m. contest.