Dec. 18, 2014 Final Stats
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LOS ANGELES - Growing pains are always difficult, particularly against the reigning Pac-12 Tournament Champion USC Trojans. While it took nearly 16 minutes of action to find their way, the young LMU women's basketball team did just that despite falling 96-54 to the Trojans Thursday at the Galen Center.
LMU (2-7) outscored UCS (8-2) 13-10 over the final 4:24 of the first half and trailed in the second, 43-30. The Lions' youth did their best to get into the act beginning with the season's first starts for freshman Deshka Olson and sophomore Alyson Lock. The duo were in the starting lineup in place of juniors Deanna Johnson and Sophie Taylor. Taylor did not play due to illness.
Freshman Chloe Hall contributed a career-high six points while classmates Olson and Makenzie Cast had five and four, respectively. The fourth rookie in the lineup, Bree Alford, finished with two points and a team-high six boards.
Johnson led LMU in scoring for the fourth time this season, finishing with 13 points off the bench. Senior Ben-Jumbo also reached double-figures, finishing with 11 points to go along with three boards before fouling out with 7:15 to play.
USC scored the game's first 17 points as the Lions opened play going 0-for-5 from the field, 0-for-2 from the free-throw line and committing six turnovers. Ben-Jumbo finally got LMU on the board at the 13:39 mark with a jumper in the paint.
Ben-Jumbo would score the Lions' first seven points before Taylor Anderson would sink a jumper and a Deanna Johnson layup put LMU in double figures, 37-11, with 5:03 to play in the half. LMU would play with the Trojans the remainder of the half, scoring 13 points to USC's 16 over the final five minutes.
A well-played second half saw the Lions trim a 36-point deficit down to 24 as they outscored the Trojans 24-19 through the first 12 minutes of the period.
After hitting a blistering 67 percent in the first half on 20-of-30 shooting from the field, USC shot 44 percent in the second frame to finish 55 percent from the field for the game. McKenzie Calvert and Brianna Barrett led five Trojans in double-figures, each pouring in 18 points. Amy Okonkwo had 14 points, Kristen Simon had 12 and Courtney Jaco chipped in 10 as nine total Trojans scored in the game.
USC held a 50-26 advantage in points in the paint and 25-13 edge in points off turnovers. The Lions, however, had just two turnovers more than the Trojans (16-14), committing just six in the second half.
LMU's non-conference slate wraps up at home with a pair of games before the Christmas break. The Lions host Hawaii on Saturday, Dec. 20 and another Pac-12 opponent in Washington State on Monday, Dec. 22. Both games tip off at 2 p.m. from Gersten Pavilion and will be streamed live and free on the LMU Sports Network at LMULions.com. The Dec. 22 match-up against the Cougars will also be FREE of charge to the public as the Lions send their fans an early Christmas present!
