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Scoreboard

WBB WCC Champs at OSU
Laura Rivas
71
Winner LMU (CA) LMU 21-8,15-3 WCC
69
Oregon St. OSU 21-10,13-5 WCC
Winner
LMU (CA) LMU
21-8,15-3 WCC
71
Final
69
Oregon St. OSU
21-10,13-5 WCC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 OT 1 F
LMU (CA) LMU 20 15 11 16 9 71
Oregon St. OSU 16 18 20 8 7 69

Game Recap: Women's Basketball |

Lions Clinch Share of WCC Title With Gritty Overtime Win at Oregon State

CORVALLIS, OR - On a day when history waited patiently for someone to claim it, LMU women's basketball refused to leave without making a statement. And in the final seconds of overtime, with Gill Coliseum roaring and the moment tightening around everyone in the building, Andjela Matic stepped into a shot that will live forever in program lore.

Matic rose up on the right wing, released a high-arching three, and watched it drop cleanly through the net with two seconds left - the dagger that lifted LMU to a dramatic 71-69 overtime win over Oregon State. Just like that, the Lions clinched at least a share of the WCC regular-season championship, their first since the legendary 2003-04 season, the only time LMU has ever won the league title.

But this win wasn't built on one shot - it was built on everything that came before it.

It was built on Jess Lawson's career-defining performance, a 21-rebound masterpiece that controlled the game in every way imaginable. Lawson owned the defensive glass, ripped down clutch boards in traffic, and put her body on the line possession after possession. She added 15 points, but it was her relentlessness - her belief that no ball belonged to anyone but her - that kept LMU alive through every Oregon State run.

It was built on Maya Hernandez's steady scoring presence, her 20 points arriving in moments when LMU desperately needed answers. Hernandez refused to let the Lions fade, slicing through the lane and delivering bucket after bucket to keep the game within reach.

It was built on resilience. On grit. On a team that didn't blink even when Oregon State surged ahead in the third quarter, even when the Beavers tied it with 22 seconds left in regulation, even when overtime began with the home crowd fully alive.

Every punch was met with one of their own.

And in overtime, after a series of tense exchanges, a defensive stand by LMU gave the Lions one final chance to write the ending themselves. The ball found its way to Matic - the senior who has been a heartbeat of LMU's composure all season. She didn't hesitate. She didn't flinch.

She simply let it fly.

Net. Silence. Then an eruption from the LMU bench.

With that shot, the Lions completed one of the most meaningful victories in program history - a road overtime victory that brought them back to a place the program hasn't touched since 2004.

LMU walks out of Corvallis not just with a win, but with a title, a legacy moment, and a memory this team will carry for the rest of their lives.
 
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