In one of their longest and most exciting games to date, the Lions were defeated in triple-overtime by Santa Clara. The two teams battled back-and-forth for 55 minutes before the Broncos were able to take home a 83-75 victory.
The Lions were first on the board in Q1, but were met with a quick response from the Broncos. A cross-court pass from Andee Velasco to Jasmine Jones put the Lions on top and the 3 point sisters, Chelsey Gipson and Cierra Belvin, made an appearance and extended the Lions lead with a pair of threes. The Broncos were able to battle back at the end of the quarter and clung to a 15-14 lead going into Q2.
Santa Clara pulled further ahead early in the second, but Lions kept fighting. Lead by a steal and fast break from Bree Alford, the Lions staged a comeback with a 15-4 drive, forcing multiple Santa Clara timeouts. The Bronco's were clearly feeling the pressure from LMU's tight defense, which forced 9 Bronco turnovers during the half. Josie Buckingham secured the Lion's lead with a layup from the paint and a last second layup form Alford extended their lead to 4 as the half came to an end.
The Broncos caught up to the Lions at the top of the third. LMU was able to hold on until a well placed three from Santa Clara's Lexie Pritchard gave Santa Clara a lead they would retain for most of the quarter. The Lions battled back at the end of the quarter, holding the Broncos to a nearly 3 minute scoring drought while closing the 6 point deficit. Going into the final quarter, the two teams were tied at 44 points a piece.
Raychel Stanley broke the tie with a pair of free throws and LMU held onto the lead for most of the quarter. With two minutes left to play, the Broncos took a one point lead with a layup from top-scored Tia Hay. After three stops in a row from LMU, Jasmine Jones was finally able to tie the game back up with 30 seconds left in the fourth. The Bronco's ball was won back thanks to a steal from Alford, but LMU was unable to finish the game. At the end of regulation time, the score stat at 53-53.
Gipson struck first in overtime #1 with a long three from the left side. Santa Clara would not go down easily, however and fought for the lead with a pair of layups. Gipson tried to further the Lion's lead with another three, but Ashlyn Herlihy of Santa Clara had other plans, sinking a three of her own to give her team a one point lead. With only 25 seconds left to play, Gipson went to the line and easily sunk two free throws. Then, the Bronco's went to the line for two of their own, re-tying the game and sending it into a second overtime.
Santa Clara hit a jumper to start the second OT, but Alford quickly responded with two jumpers in a row to give LMU a 2 point lead. Santa Clara battled back to the top with a jumper and one second left on the clock. The game seemed over, but Alford had other plans, scoring two points from the paint to send the game into overtime #3.
The Broncos came int hot to OT3, scoring 6 points in a row. The Lions put up a fight, but were unable to make up the deficit this time. After 55 minutes of play, the Lions fell to the Broncos 83-75.
Even though they lost, the Lions fought a hard battle and never gave up. Thanks to the extra minutes, two Lions, Alford and Jones, achieved a double-double. Alford also led the team in points along with Gipson, each scoring 18 points each. Both Gipson and Alford dominated in overtime, with Gipson scoring 8 out of 9 in OT1 and Alford scoring 6-6 in OT2.
The Lions walk away from this battle with a 10-8 overall record and a 3-3 record in conference. The team is set to begin their second semester next week before heading to Pepperdine to face their PCH rivals on Jan. 19 at 2 pm.
