LOS ANGELES – In the annual Education Day game at Gersten Pavilion, the LMU women's basketball team (5-1) earned a 60-53 victory over the UC Davis Aggies.

Bree Alford and Jasmine Jones paced the Lions through the first half, giving LMU a 27-26 edge. Alford scored 10 first-half points with six boards while Jones pulled down nine rebounds with five points and two steals through the first two quarters.
 
Alford and Jones continued their strong play in the second half with help from Chelsey Gipson who poured in 10 second-half points to help secure LMU's victory. The Lions and Aggies were all tied up at 42-42 entering the final frame, but Jones racked up five points and four boards in the fourth quarter alone to give LMU back the lead. The Lions held the Aggies to just 11 fourth-quarter points to seal the victory.
 
Jones notched a double-double on the day with 10 points, a game-high 14 boards and two steals. Alford posted 12 points with eight rebounds and Gipson tallied a team-high 16 points with four assists.

Cierra Belvin and Andee Velasco also had strong performances for the Lions. Belvin snagged a game-high four steals with seven points and Velasco dished out a team-best five assists with eight points.
 
"What a great atmosphere today, first of all," LMU head coach Charity Elliott said. "I'm so grateful for everybody who put this day on, to Jim Morris for funding this day. This is such a great experience for the kids and also for our team to have this kind of energy at home."

"UC Davis is a great basketball team," Elliott continued. "We knew it was going to be a challenge, and it was. It was 40 minutes of two teams who know how to win and who are competing like crazy. Andee's second half was really, really good. She had zero turnovers in the second half. That was big. Bree was phenomenal for us. Jasmine was great. Cierra continues to come up big, her hustle plays, she gives us extra possessions. This was a total team win."

Following today's win, the Lions will hit the road for two road games at Denver on Saturday, Dec. 1 and next Friday, Dec. 7, at CSUN.