LOS ANGELES – It was a night to remember in Gersten Pavilion on Tuesday, as the LMU women's basketball team (1-0) defeated No. 23 UCLA (0-1) 69-63 to begin the 2018-19 season with a major upset win in front of a packed house. This marked LMU's first program win over UCLA out of 10 all-time meetings.
 
The Lions were tied up at 15-15 after one and LMU held a 31-28 lead at the half. Sophomore guard Chelsey Gipson paced the Lions through the first two quarters, scoring 12 points on 50.0 percent shooting (4-of-8) with four rebounds. Stat stuffer Gabby Green began this season the way she ended last, with her stat-stuffer reputation on point, adding eight points, three boards, three assists and two steals in the first half.
 
That was just a start for Green, as she took the game into her hands in the third, scoring 15 points in the frame on 7-of-9 shooting. She gave LMU an 11-point lead by nailing a 3-pointer at the 4:24 mark, and the Lions maintained that lead to finish out the quarter up 52-41.
 
The Bruins came out fighting in the final period and went on an 8-0 run from 5:02 to 3:24, cutting the Lions' lead to just two points, but the Lions held strong and battled through the adversity. Bree Alford had an incredibly clutch rebound and putback layup to get LMU back up by four, 64-60, at the 1:50 mark and the game was finished at the free-throw line as Gipson poured in one and junior Cierra Belvin went a perfect 4-for-4 from the charity stripe to close out the upset victory.
 
Green led all scorers in the win with 25 points to go along with seven rebounds, four assists and a game-high four steals. Gipson finished with 13 points and five boards. Alford pulled down a team-high nine rebounds with seven points, sophomore Jasmine Jones added eight points, six rebounds, two blocks and two steals, and Belvin tallied seven points, five boards, three steals and two assists.

In her first game since 2016-17 after missing last season due to injury, Brittney Reed tallied five points and five rebounds in 16 minutes of action for the Lions.

"How Chelsey [Gipson] came out in the first half was amazing for us," Green said. "Then my second-half run was great, and we all stayed together and fought. We always knew that we could win based off of the way we've been practicing and the team that we have. We know we can compete with anybody. Coming out here and having that confidence and never letting up, that's how we were able to get the win."
 
LMU forced 18 UCLA turnovers on the night while snagging 15 steals. The Lions were able to convert UCLA's turnovers into 17 points on the offensive end. LMU outscored UCLA 40-28 in the paint and 20-13 in bench points. The Lions' largest lead of the night was 13 points at the 9:30 mark in the fourth.
 
The Lions shot 80.0 percent (12-15) from the free-throw line on the night while holding the Bruins to 35.4 percent shooting from the field and 20.0 percent from 3-point range.

"We just beat a really, really talented, extremely well-coached team," LMU head coach Charity Elliott said. "We couldn't have done it without this crowd. The atmosphere tonight was unbelievable. I'm so proud of the way our kids locked in, just locked in to what they needed to do. It was a total team effort. They executed down the stretch when they needed to. Gabby Green, Chelsey Gipson, unbelievable. Cierra Belvin knocking those free throws down, that won the game for us. Bree Alford got an incredible putback that was huge. We knew they were going to come back. We knew they were going to have a last push, and that's what they did. And for us to maintain our composure with that pressure coming back on us shows a lot of maturity from where this program has come and gone."

LMU hits the road for its next contest at Arizona on Tuesday, Nov. 13. The Lions return home to host the team's Thanksgiving Classic Nov. 23-24 with two games at Gersten Pavilion.