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LAS VEGAS -- In a game of runs, Loyola Marymount women's basketball was unable to overcome San Francisco's fourth quarter push in the WCC Tournament Quarterfinals. The Lions (14-16, 9-9 WCC) trailed by two entering the final quarter, but could not get past USF (18-12, 11-7 WCC), falling 80-67.

"I really thought we came out and did a lot of really good things," said Head Coach Charity Elliott. "I thought Leslie did a phenomenal job on Howard, and that was part of our plan, but the rest of their team really stepped up."

Cheyanne Wallace opened the game hot, and remained that way throughout. Wallace scored eight of LMU's first 10 points after starting 3-for-3 from the field, and finished with a game-high 19 points, along with Anna Seilund and Kalyn Simon of USF. As a team, LMU shot 50% from the field (7-for-14) in the first quarter.

The second quarter was full of runs. LMU went on a 10-0 run capped by a Leslie Lopez-Wood three and Raychel Stanley's layup to give the Lions a 28-22 edge. USF answered with a pair of runs of their own. The Dons tied it at 30 on a 6-0 run, then scored 11 straight points to end the half and take a 41-34 lead into the break.

Back-to-back baskets by Jackie Johnson was the centerpiece of a 10-0 LMU run in the middle of the third to make it a one-point game, 48-47. The senior posted her 12^th double-double of the season with 14 points and 12 rebounds on 6-of-10 shooting.

Lopez-Wood hit her third three of the game to tie the score at 50-50 with 3:27 remaining in the third. USF missed 13 consecutive field goals down the stretch, before a layup gave them a 54-52 lead to end the third. The Dons shot just 3-for-16 (18.8%) in the third, including 1-for-9 from long range.

Lopez-Wood finished with 13 points to bring her career total to 1362, the seventh most all-time in program history.

USF went on a 6-0 run in the fourth to extend their lead to nine, 67-58, and outscored the Lions 26-15 in the final quarter.

"Leslie and Shelbi had been with us from the beginning, and it had been a hard four years of changing the culture," said Elliott. "I think this year they were really able to enjoy some of the benefits from the hard work that we put in. We certainly think that our best days are ahead of us. With Jackie Johnson being here just a short amount of time, our program will never be the same. Our program took some steps this year, we had some upsets, but San Francisco just had our number. We learned how to win this year. We had always been right there on the cusp, and I think that this year we took a huge step forward. No matter what, I love this team, and know our future is going to be very, very bright."

LMU's bench outscored the Dons, 13-2, with nine of those coming from Makenzie Cast threes.

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