LOS ANGELES – On Saturday night the Lions took down Saint Mary's, 65-61, in a nail-biter at Gersten Pavilion.

Maya Hernandez and Naudia Evans both put up double-doubles, leading all scorers with 18 points. Hernandez dominated the boards with 15 rebounds, while Evans grabbed 10 and dished out nine assists—just shy of a triple-double.

Brandi Williams came through in key moments, dropping 13 points on 6-of-13 shooting.

Evans set the tone early, hitting double figures in the first quarter with 10 points, going 3-of-6 from the field and a perfect 2-for-2 from deep. LMU shot an impressive 75% from three and 42.9% overall, while Saint Mary's struggled at 29.4%. The Gaels did close the quarter strong with a 5-0 run, but LMU held onto a 17-13 lead.

Saint Mary's kept that energy going in the second, hitting the first two shots of the quarter to go up by two. The Lions answered by tying the game twice and then knocking down back-to-back layups to go up by four. A late Gaels bucket before halftime gave them a 32-30 lead heading into the break.

Both teams were evenly matched in the third, each shooting 35.7% from the field and scoring 12 points. While the scoreboard didn't shift much, Saint Mary's controlled most of the quarter. Allison Clarke drained a three in the final 23 seconds to cut the gap to two.

LMU turned it up in the fourth, with multiple players stepping up to push the Lions ahead. They outscored Saint Mary's 23-17 in the final period, locking in the victory.

Next up, the Lions head to Las Vegas for the WCC Tournament on March 6.