The duo of Lindsey Foster and Amanda Copas tallied 22 points each to help lead the University of La Verne to a 95-90 triumph over the University of Redlands in SCIAC women's basketball action Thursday night at Frantz Athletic Court.

The win kept the Leopards unbeaten in conference play as they improved to 5-0 in the SCIAC and 8-5 overall.

The Leopards held a 52-46 advantage at halftime and led by as many as nine points in the second half before the Bulldogs rallied and got to within a point on a layup from Marika Staton with 5:07 left to play.    La Verne responded as jumpers from Emily Myers and Tyne McClure extended the lead to 84-79 at 3:47.  From there, Redlands would get no closer than three points.

Riki Murakami helped propel the Leos down the stretch by going 7-of-7 from the free throw line in the final two minutes to seal the win.  Overall, La Verne finished the game 27-32 (84.3%) from the charity stripe.  Copas would go a perfect 8-of-8 from the line.

La Verne enjoyed a strong start by racing out to an early 12-2 lead in the opening four minutes.  Redlands (9-4, 3-2 SCIAC) would eventually pull within three points on a Staton jumper to narrow the Leopard lead to 19-16 at 11:19 in the first half.  Consecutive baskets from Foster pushed La Verne's advantage to 40-31.  The Leos enjoyed their largest lead of the contest when a pair of Copas free throws stretched the margin to 13 at 48-35 before the Bulldogs closed to within six at the break.

The Leos nearly led from start to finish, only to see the Bulldogs grab their only lead of the game on a jumper from Colleen Goeser to put Redlands up 55-54 with 17:30 to play.  The lead was short-lived as a basket and free throw from McClure ignited a 7-0 La Verne run to reclaim the lead en route to a 61-55 Leopard cushion.

Though La Verne would hold leads of 69-60 and 78-70, the Bulldogs - behind the play of Staton and Allison Wong - eventually closed the deficit.  Staton led all scorers with 23 points while Wong totaled 20 points, connecting on six three-pointers.  Brittany Oster added 16 points for the Bulldogs.

Statistically, the Leos held a 59-51 edge in rebounding and forced 22 Redlands turnovers on the night. 

Myers corraled a game-high 10 rebounds while Copas added seven boards.  Cribbs contributed 10 points and six rebounds for the Leopards.

The conference-leading Leos continue league action on the road as they travel to Thousand Oaks to take on second-place Cal Lutheran (12-2, 5-1 SCIAC) Saturday evening in a 5:00 pm tip-off.