The No. 1-seeded Occidental College Tigers downed the third-seeded Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Athenas 55-49 in Rush Gymnasium Saturday to claim the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference women’s basketball postseason tournament championship and take an automatic bid to the NCAA playoffs.

Brackets for the Division III Postseason Tournament will be announced early this week.

The Tigers (19-8, 12-2 SCIAC) clinched the 2010-11 SCIAC regular season championship Tuesday with an 82-35 win over the Caltech Beavers (0-24, 0-14). It is the fourth consecutive championship for Occidental, breaking the previous school record of three titles set in 1978-1980. Oxy beat the La Verne Leopards 52-45 on Friday to advance to today’s championship game.

The Tigers scored first on Saturday and never relinquished the lead, building a 22-12 lead at the half. Oxy led by as much as 13 in the second half, but the Athenas refused to fold, cutting the Tigers’ lead to five with 3:27 left to play. But it was too little, too late as Oxy eventually cruised to a six-point victory.

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