Jan. 3, 2015 Final Stats
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MORAGA, Calif. - The LMU women's basketball team concluded a three-game West Coast Conference opening road swing with a wild finish at Saint Mary's Saturday.
Battling back from a 13-point second-half deficit, the Lions were seconds away from sending the game into extra time on a driving layup by Taylor Anderson with three seconds to play. But a foul call on the inbounds sent Saint Mary's to the line, where Lauren Nicholson would hit one of two and a half court heave at the buzzer would go wide as the Lions fell 72-71 at McKeon Pavilion.
It was perhaps the best performance by the Lions (2-12, 0-3 WCC) all year as four players finished in double figures. Lezlie Lopez-Wood led LMU with 19 points, including 15 in the second half. Makenzie Cast was LMU's spark plug early as her 15 first-half point surpassed her career-high of 14 set at Pepperdine on Dec. 29. The rookie finished the night with 17 points.
Taylor Anderson had 13 points and Sophie Taylor added 11 off the bench.
The Gaels were placed by Nicholson who poured in a career-high 29 points on 12-of-17 shooting from the field. Stella Beck was the only other Gael in double-figures, finishing with 11. Carli Rosenthal had a game-high 14 rebounds and nine points.
After LMU quickly trimmed a three-point halftime deficit to just one with a Lopez-Wood jumper, Saint Mary's got rolling, eventually opening up a 60-47 advantage with 11:16 to go. But the Gaels would go cold for the next six minutes as LMU's trapping defense forced seven turnovers and an 0-for-4 performance by SMC.
Meanwhile, a Lopez-Wood three, back-to-back buckets by Anderson and two free throws by Cast brought the Lions to within four, 60-56.
Saint Mary's would finally get a bucket with 5:15 remaining. A back-and-forth game ensued from there and a Lopez-Wood layup made it 68-66 SMC with 1:49 to play.
Down four, 71-67, with 21 seconds remaining, Ben-Jumbo was whistled for fouling Rosenthal. But the Gaels sent Nicholson to the line for the first free throw attempt. After the first missed shot, the officiating crew assessed the situation and issued SMC a technical foul.
Lopez-Wood calmly sank two free throws for LMU and Rosenthal missed, putting the ball back in LMU's hands. A Taylor three went long but Anderson came up with the offensive board and outback to tie the score at 71-71.
But Lopez-Wood was whistled for a foul on the inbounds and Nicholson make one of two.
LMU hit 38 percent from the field and 80 percent from the charity stripe. They committed just 11 turnovers, while swiping 10 steals that led to 23 giveaways for the Gaels.
Saint Mary's scored the first six points of the game while LMU went 0-4 with three turnovers, forcing Head Coach Charity Elliott to call a quick 30-second timeout. Out of the short break, the Lions went on a 7-0 run to lead 7-6 at the 15:47 mark.
A Cast jumper game the Lions an 11-10 advantage with 14:03 to go, but Saint Mary's would put together an 11-3 run top open up a 21-14 lead. A Lauren Nicholson three at 7:53 gave the Gaels their largest lead of the half, 28-20, and they led 33-26 before LMU got a jumper in the lane from Ben-Jumbo and a three and jumper from Cast for a 35-32 advantage inside two minutes.
Saint Mary's would score the final four points of the half to take a 39-36 lead into the break.
LMU returns to Gersten Pavilion next week, continuing WCC play against BYU on Thursday, Jan. 8.
