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RIVERSIDE, Calif. - The LMU women's basketball team could not recover from a slow start Tuesday night at UC Riverside, falling 80-62 to the Highlanders at SRC Arena.
The Lions (2-5) surged once again in the third quarter, outscoring UCR (4-3) 19-15 in the frame, but would never get closer than seven and the home squad pulled away again down the stretch.
"We fought in the second half, but we didn't come to play in the first half tonight," said LMU Head Coach Charity Elliott. "We are still looking for the group of players who will fight from start to finish."
Bree Alford scored 10 of her team-high 15 points in the third quarter. The sophomore also pulled down a team-high 10 boards for her first career double-double. Leslie Lopez-Wood and Deanna Johnson added 10 points apiece.
UC Riverside was led by Clemence Lefebvre's 20 points. Brittany Crane had 16 points, Annelie Ito had 15 and Michelle Curry chipped in 12.
Turnovers and cold shooting both plagued the Lions in the first half as they finished the frame with 15 giveaways and just eight field goals (on 28 attempts). UCR jumped out to an early 7-0 lead and would push the spread to double-digits, 19-7, with 3:33 to play in the first quarter.
Back-to-back Highlander layups opened up a 16-points advantage, 26-10, at the 8:31 mark of the second half, forcing Elliott to call a timeout.
The Lions came out of the break with new life, going on a 7-0 run to trim the spread down to nine, 26-17, with 7:20 to go. But they would get no closer than 10 the remainder of the half as UCR opened back up a 38-24 advantage at the break.
UCR pushed its lead to 16 early in the third quarter, but that's when Alford and Cheyenne Wallace finally came alive. The duo sparked a 17-8 Lion run. Andee Velasco also got into the mix, scoring the final five points of the quarter for LMU. But the burst of energy would not last as the Highlanders opened things back up in the final frame.
Despite shooting just 36 percent from the field, LMU won the battle on the boards, 45-36, including 17 offensive rebounds. UCR shot a steady 45 percent on the night.
The Lions are continue a stretch of three straight Big West Conference opponents on Friday, traveling to face UC Santa Barbara at 7 p.m.
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