The University of La Verne women's basketball team fell to visiting Linfield College by an 87-63 verdict Sunday night at Frantz Athletic Court in the Leopards' 2010-11 season opener.
The Wildcats enjoyed a 60% shooting effort from the field against the Leopards, connecting on 33 of 55 attempts. Moreover, the Wildcats outrebounded La Verne 44-32 for the evening.
Linfield (1-2) led 63-53 before going on a decisive 20-4 run midway through the second half to seize an 83-57 advantage with 6:14 left to play.
La Verne held its final lead of the game on a Clarissa Holz jumper to put the Leos up 10-9 with 15:15 remaining in the first half. The Wildcats then responded with a 10-0 run to seize a 19-10 advantage at the 13:20 mark. A Stephanie Shepard three-pointer with 8:15 remaining closed the deficit to 29-26 before the Wildcats eventually took a 49-40 advantage into the break.
A jumper from Ashley Paul pulled the Leos to within five points at 49-44 in the opening minute of the second half, but the Wildcats went on an 11-2 run to grab a 60-46 advantage with 15 minutes remaining.
The Leopards made nine of their three-point attempts in the first half but connected on just one of their 13 attempts after intermission. For the game the Leos shot 21-70 from the field (30%) including a 10-36 effort from three-point range.
Gretchen Owens tallied 20 points and 9 rebounds to pace Linfield while Micha Pringle added 19 points off the bench for the Wildcats. Paul finished with a team-high 15 points with Copas contributing 11 points for the Leopards.
La Verne will continue action at the Cal Lutheran Thanksgiving Classic on Friday against DePauw at 6:00 pm.
