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LOS ANGELES – The Loyola Marymount University women's basketball team will take its final non-conference road trip of the season this weekend to participate in the Duel in the Desert Tournament on Sunday and Monday, hosted by UNLV. 
 
LMU will head to the tournament coming off of a tough loss against Grand Canyon University, where the team fell 76-54. Despite the loss, Meghan Mandel put up a strong showing for the Lions, as she pulled 18 rebounds, which lands the redshirt senior third in LMU history for single-game rebounds all-time.
 
 Not only did Mandel make waves at LMU, she was also fourth in the nation that week for single game rebounds. Mandel is currently No. 8 in the nation for blocked shots per game, averaging 3.33, and is 26^th in the nation for rebounds per game, averaging 10.7. 
 
The Lions will kick off the weekend against Louisiana State University on Sunday. The Tigers are 1-4 on the season, and lost their first game of the Duel in the Desert Tournament against West Coast Conference opponent, University of the Pacific. The Tigers fell 73-64 on Saturday afternoon and are now 0-2 against WCC opponents, as they lost to BYU in their first game of the season. Sunday will be the first time the Lions will meet with the LSU Tigers. 
 
LMU will conclude the tournament on Monday against UNLV. The Rebels are 2-3 on the season and will start their first game of the tournament on Sunday against Pacific. The Lions are 3-7 against the Rebels all-time. The last time the Lions beat UNLV was in 2013 in Gersten Pavilion. 
 
Transfers Ariel Johnson and Cassandra Gordon will be making their first appearances as Lions this weekend, as they received immediate eligibility.   
 
Tip-off against LSU will be on Sunday at 12:00 PST. The Lions will be back on the court on Monday to play UNLV at 1:00 PM at Thomas and Mack Center. The game will be streamed through FloHoops.