Dec. 7, 2010

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LOS ANGELES - Junior Candice Nichols converted a three-point play with 9.6 seconds left and freshman Camille Buckley blocked Cal State Fullerton's shot at the buzzer as LMU rallied for a 77-76 victory on Tuesday night at Gersten Pavilion. Nichols led four players in double figures with 20 points and Buckley added her first career double-double to lift the Lions (5-4) to their seventh straight win over the Titans (3-6).

LMU trailed by as many as 10 in the second half and by seven with 2:33 left before ending the game on a 10-2 run. A three-pointer by freshman Hazel Ramirez made it 74-70 Fullerton with 2:13 to go and Nichols followed with a jumper to cut it to two. After a Megan Richardson jumper restored the Titans' four-point advantage, senior Renahy Young spun in the lane for a layup to again make it a two-point game with 28 seconds left. Ramirez fouled Lauren Chow on the following play and the Titan missed the front end of a one-and-one. That set up Nichols' spinning drive as she laid it in and was fouled by Alicya Crisp with 9.6 seconds left.

Nichols' layup tied things up and Fullerton called time to try to ice the junior. Nichols had missed her only two foul shots in the game to that point but swished this one through to give LMU its first lead since 11:35 of the first half. Out of timeouts, Fullerton put the ball in the hands of Chow but Buckley stepped up with the block to preserve the victory.

Nichols went over 20 points for the second time this season while adding four rebounds, four assists, and four steals. Buckley had career-highs of 13 points, 15 rebounds (11 offensive), and four assists in 25 minutes off the bench. Making her first appearance of the year after an off-season injury, Young had 13 points to move into fourth place on the LMU career scoring charts with 1,230. Freshman Hazel Ramirez also had 13 points as LMU put four players in double figures for the second time this year.

Trailing by seven at the half, the Lions stepped it up in the second half, shooting 59.3% (16-for-27), including a blistering 5-for-6 (83.3%) from behind the arc and 9-for-9 at the line. LMU finished at 36% (27-for-75) overall, 45.5% (5-for-11) from three, and 85.7% (18-for-21) at the line.

The Lions made up for poor shooting in the first half by pounding the glass, grabbing 22 offensive rebounds in the opening 20 minutes. That helped them hold an overall rebounding edge of 44-37 while they also forced 17 Titan turnovers.

Richardson had 19 points and five assists to lead the Titans, who also had four players in double figures. Lyndsey Grove contributed 16 points, Chow had 13, and Katie Avila had 12. CSUF shot 50.8% (30-for-59) overall and 53.8% (7-for-13) from three-point range to go along with 69.2% (9-of-13) at the line.

The first half was a struggle for the Lions, who fell behind 7-0 coming out of the gate but rattling off an 11-4 run to take their first lead. There seemed to be a lid on the LMU basket as the hosts shot just 23% in the first half but managed to stay in the game by grabbing those 22 boards. Buckley was leading the charge with nine points and 10 boards at the break.

As the second half wore on, Fullerton seemed to weather every run that LMU made. A jumper by Avila gave the visitors their first double-digit lead at 50-40 with 16:03 to play but a layup by Young and a three by Ramirez cut it to five, only for Chow to answer with a three of her own and Avila to connect again to push the lead back to 10.

LMU made another push with five points by Nichols aiding a 7-0 run that made it a two-point game, 60-58 with 7:58 remaining. Yet again, the Titans began to pull away and Jenna Breite's layup with 2:33 to go put them up seven, only for the Lions to mount their final rally for the win.

LMU heads out on a seven-game road trip over the holidays, their longest road swing since 1998-99. The trip opens on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Portland State.