WHITTIER – Led by a balanced scoring from the starters, the University of La Verne women's basketball used a 20-3 run to open the second half to defeat Whittier 71-59 at the Graham Athletic Center on Thursday night.

La Verne improves to 13-9 overall and 8-5 in SCIAC play. Whittier falls to 1-21 and 1-12.

The Leopards never trailed in the game, but the Poets hung tough in the first half. Whittier withstood an early run by La Verne and closed the half with an 8-2 run of its own capped off by an Erica Houston layup to take the momentum into the break.

But the Leos came out rejuvenated and blitzed the Poets coming out of the locker room. Emily Myers opened the second half with a quick layup, Riki Murakami knocked down two 3-pointers, and Angelina Arreola and Gaby Moura-Hayes each converted a three-point play to give La Verne a 54-37 lead with 15:47 left to go. Less than a minute later, Teresa Fatai hit a midrange jumper to extend the lead to 19 points, the largest of the game.

The Poets cut the lead to single digits on two different on occasions, but that was as close as they would get.

Four Leopards scored in double figures. Lindsey Foster led all scorers with 14, Myers and Murakami added 13 apiece and Tiffany Hicks had 11, all from the free throw line.

La Verne also dominated the glass, outrebounding Whittier 51-33. Hicks grabbed a season-high nine rebounds and three other Leopards had at least seven. Fatai hauled in eight – six on the offensive end – and Moura-Hayes and Arreola each had seven.

Dannika Navales-Lugu had 13 points and five rebounds for Whittier.

With tonight's win and Cal Lutheran's (12-10, 8-6 SCIAC) loss to Redlands, La Verne reclaims fourth spot in the SCIAC standings with three games left.

The Leopards will continue their fight to secure a SCIAC Postseason Tournament berth when they travel to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps to take on the first-place Athenas on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.