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LOS ANGELES - Trailing 63-43 with 10 minutes remaining in the second half, the LMU women's basketball team used a furious rally to pull within three late, but could get no closer, falling 87-79 to Cal Poly Friday night in Gersten Pavilion.
The Lions (0-3) suffered through a cold shooting first half, hitting just 9-for-32 (28 percent) from the field, including 3-of-15 from three. The Mustangs (1-1), meanwhile, found their touch from the opening tip, shooting 68 percent in the opening frame to carry a 45-25 advantage into the break.
Leslie Lopez-Wood opened the second half with a three for LMU, Taylor Anderson knocked down a jumper and Deanna Johnson added a pair of free throws to quickly trim the spread to 13, 45-32, with 18:11 to go.
Cal Poly stayed hot, slowly pushing their lead back to 20 on back-to-back layups by Beth Balbierz and Lisa Marie Sanchez with 10 minutes to play.
Lopez-Wood answered the mini Cal Poly run with a three and Emily Ben-Jumbo sank four straight free throws to make it 64-50 in favor of the Mustangs. Another four-point effort by Cal Poly pushed the spread back to 18, but Lopez-Wood calmly drained three three throws after being fouled on a long ball attempt.
An Anderson jumper with 5:19 to go brought the Lions to within 10, 73-63 and an ensuing Alyson Lock free throw cut the Cal Poly lead to single digits for the first time since midway through the first half.
Cal Poly responded with a layup in transition to briefly push their advantage back to double-double digits, but LMU was not finished. Anderson would hit a jumper in the lane and Taylor would score six straight, bringing the Lions within three, 77-74 with 1:56 remaining. But LMU would get no closer as the Mustangs hit 10-of-12 from the charity stripe down the stretch.
Johnson led four Lions in double figures, finishing the night with 20 points before fouling out with just over a minute to play. Anderson added a career-high 19 points and eight boards while Lopez-Wood had 17 points, including four three-pointers. Taylor chipped in 11 points for the Lions who finished hitting 37 percent from the field.
Ariana Elegado and Balbeirz had 21 points apiece for Cal Poly which shot 54 percent for the game.
After struggling on the boards in their first two games, the Lions won the rebounding edge 41-36 while also limiting the Mustangs to just six offensive boards for five second chance points.
The Lions return to action on Nov. 28 and 29, hosting the DoubleTree Los Angeles Westside Thanksgiving Classic in Gersten Pavilion. The four-team Classic begins Friday with UC Irvine versus Bowling Green at 1 p.m. followed by LMU versus UAB at 3:30 p.m.
