LA VERNE – With playoff hopes on the line, the University of La Verne women's basketball team had the Chapman Panthers right where it wanted.

La Verne held Kimi Takaoka, one of the best scorers in the nation, scoreless in the first half and limited Chapman to just 23.1 percent shooting on the floor as it went into the halftime break tied at 18-18.

But Takaoka exploded for 15 points in the second half and rest of the Panthers caught fire as they beat La Verne 59-41 at the Franz Athletic Court on Saturday night.

After a Lindsey Foster lay-up knotted the game up at 20-20 early in the second half, the Panthers went on a 13-0 run break the game open. Takaoka scored eight of the 13 points during that stretch.

Gaby Moura-Hayes stopped the bleeding with a pair of baskets and Jasmine Bush hit a layup to bring the Leopards within 10 with 7:33 to go, but that was as close as they would get as Chapman just couldn't miss.

The Panthers were 15 of 22 from the field (68.2 percent) as a team in the second half and Takaoka was perfect, going 6 for 6 from the field and 2 for 2 from the charity stripe.

Foster finished the game with seven points and seven rebounds, but was hampered by foul trouble in the second half.

Tiffany Hicks had eight points, three assists and four steals.

Moura-Hayes scored eight points in 10 minutes.

Sandra Gao led all scorers with 17 points and she also grabbed a game-high nine rebounds.

Before the game, La Verne honored the team's six seniors and their careers: Aly Noel, Kay Hurd, Teresa Fatai, Maria Sanchez, Lindsey Foster and Megan Musashi.

La Verne finishes the season 13-12 overall and 8-8 in SCIAC play.