WHITTIER, Calif. — Cal Lutheran women's basketball held off Whittier College 56-55 on Wednesday night and kept their SCIAC Championship hopes alive. 

The Regals remain atop the conference standings at 12-3 and 17-6 overall. They are tied with La Verne in conference play with one game to go. 

Sara Mills led the way with 15 points and Alline Ballard and Kaiya Mack had 13 each. Ballard added eight rebounds and now has 266 on the year, which is the sixth-most in program history. 

Janna Holley continued to impress with her assists and dished out seven on the night. Aliya Dimuro led the Regals on the boards with 10 rebounds and Alexa Greenwood had the most steals with four. 

It was a slow start for the Regals as they only scored 11 points in the first and second quarters. They flipped the script in the third and fourth quarters and slowly crawled back into the game. 

The Regals never back down, even when the Poets led 55-51 with 2:15 remaining. Mills made it a one-point game as she drilled a three-pointer on the ensuing possession. After the Regal defense forced two missed shots by the Poets, Ballard gave the Regals a 56-55 lead with 54 seconds left. The defense did the rest as the Regals walked off the court with a win. 

The Regals look to win a SCIAC Championship on Saturday, which is also Senior Day. They host Pomona-Pitzer on Saturday at 4 p.m.