LA VERNE, Calif. — Tiffany Hicks hit a pair clutch free throws with three seconds left and the University of La Verne women's basketball team picked up a huge win against Chapman, 59-58, at Frantz Court on Wednesday night.

Hicks drew a foul and went to the line after Riki Murakami grabbed a front-end miss of a 1-and-1 by Chapman's Ivory Hallstein.

As Hicks set her feet at the line, Chapman shrewdly called a timeout in an attempt to ice the veteran. Coming out of the huddle, Hicks stepped to the line and regathered herself for the two shots.

The first shot hit the back of the rim, bounced above the backboard and hung in the air for what felt like ages. The ball eventually came down, took a soft bounce and rolled in.

With the score tied at 58-58, Hicks left no doubt about the back-end of her two shots and swished it to give the Leopards a 59-58 lead.

But with three seconds left, the Panthers had enough time for a couple dribbles and a shot. Chapman went with a baseball pass to the front court on the ensuing inbounds play but Emily Myers used every inch of her 5-foot-11 frame to snatch the ball out of the air to seal the win for La Verne.

La Verne improves to 7-9 overall and 4-3 in SCIAC play. Chapman slips to 6-8 and 4-2.

Hicks led the Leopards' charge in the second half with 11 points in the half. She finished the game with 13 points, five assists, three rebounds and two assists.

Chapman shot well to begin the game and threatened to create a double-digit cushion going into halftime with a flurry of jumpers by Andrea Villanueva and Courtney Krysl gave it a 32-25 lead with 3:54 to in the first half.

But La Verne head coach Julie Shaw called a quick timeout and Taylor Bolden hit a midrange jumper out of the break to stem the momentum. Shannon Irwin then drew a couple of fouls, sank four free throws and hit a layup to put the Leopards in a good spot going into the break.

Irwin was instrumental in keeping the Leopards within striking distance in the first half, scoring all 12 of points in the opening half and draining six of six free throws. She also added four rebounds, five assists and four steals in the game.

The Panthers shot a scorching 60.7 percent in the first half, but La Verne negated the hot shooting by pushing the tempo, scrambling the Chapman defense and drawing fouls. La Verne drew 20 free throws in the game—hitting 17—while Chapman made only eight trips to the line.

Villanueva led Chapman with five points. Lauren Sato had nine points off the bench and Natalia Ebrahimian led the game with eight rebounds.

La Verne returns to action on Saturday when it hosts Caltech at 2 p.m.