Dec. 20, 2014 Final Stats
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LOS ANGELES - In a game of runs from start to finish, the Lions came up on the short end of the final one, falling 85-76 to Hawaii Saturday afternoon in Gersten Pavilion.
With LMU (2-8) holding a 70-68 lead with 4:16 to play, Hawaii (6-4) would score their final 17 points from the charity stripe. The Lions managed just six points down the stretch.
Down 14 as the second half got underway, the Lions relied on pesky defensive pressure to get their offense going. Emily Ben-Jumbo powered in a layup with 15:56 remaining, cutting the spread down to single digits. Taylor Anderson then sank a layup of her own and Olivia Lucero drained a three off an assist by Deanna Johnson and the Lions were quickly within four, 50-46 with 14:09 on the clock.
Following a Destiny King jumper for Hawaii, Anderson earned a trip to the free-throw line where she calmly sank both shots. Leslie Lopez-Wood then found Lucero for her second three of the game, bringing the Lions to within one. Another Hawaii bucket briefly pushed the deficit back to three, but Johnson would respond with a jumper and Ben-Jumbo brought the Lions out of the under-12 media timeout with a layup, putting the lead into the Lions hands for the first time.
LMU stretched its lead to as many as six, 70-64, with 5:14 to play, but that would be when the tide would turn once more in favor of the Rainbow Wahine.
Anderson finished with a career and game-high 21 points, hitting 8-for-13 from the field and 5-for-6 from the charity stripe. Johnson broke out of a recent slump to pour in 19 points to go along with four assists. Ben-Jumbo finished with her third double-double of the season, collecting 11 points and 10 boards. Lucero rounded out the four Lions in double-figures, turning in her best performance of the season with 10 points, five assists and two steals.
Hawaii started started the game 7-for-9 from the field while LMU managed just 2-for-10, putting the Rainbow Wahine in the early drivers' seat, 14-4, at the 15:34 mark.
A pair of free throws at 11:51 had Hawaii leading 20-10, but the Lions would then begin to chip away. Continuing to struggle from the field, LMU scored six straight from the charity stripe. Lucero then set up back-to-back layups by Anderson and Johnson to even the score at 20-20 with 7:52 to go.
A jumper by Hawaii's Shawlina Segovia would snap the Lions' 10-0 run and the teams would trade buckets briefly. But Hawaii would have another run in them, opening back up a double-digit lead and taking a 45-33 advantage into the break.
Hawaii finished with five players in double-figures including Morgan Mason with 19, and Ashleigh Karaitiana, Destiny King and Dalayna Sampton with 12 apiece.
Both teams were stellar from the free-throw line as LMU hit 18-of-22 (82 percent) while Hawaii was 30-for-36 (83 percent).
The Lions wrap up their non-conference slate on Monday, Dec. 22, hosting Pac-12 opponent in Washington State at 2 p.m. The game will be streamed live and free on the LMU Sports Network at LMULions.com and will also be FREE of charge to the public as the Lions send their fans an early Christmas present!
