PASADENA — Tiffany Hicks hit a jumper with 16 seconds left to put the University of La Verne women's basketball up by two points, but Stephanie Wong drained a go-ahead three-pointer with nine seconds remaining to lift Caltech to a 59-58 win at Braun Athletic Center on Wednesday night.

The Leopards had one last shot to take the game, but a buzzer beater from the left corner fell short.

With the loss, La Verne drops to 7-8 in SCIAC play but remains mathematically alive in the hunt for a spot in the SCIAC Postseason Tournament.

Caltech earns its first SCIAC win since the 2009-10 season and is 1-13 in SCIAC play.

La Verne used a 7-0 run late in the first half to create a seven-point cushion and kept the Beavers at bay for most of the game.

But the Beavers just hung around. La Verne extended its lead to 42-32 on Riki Murakami's layup at about the 13:31 mark in the second half, but Caltech responded with a couple of layups by Kate Lewis and a three by Wong to pull within three points.

The Leopards stretched the lead back to seven with 6:36 to go with a three by Brianna Bishop and a jumper by Erika Rivera, but Caltech had one last rally up its sleeve.

Lewis hit three straight layups to get the Beavers within three points and Wong made a jumper to cut the deficit to 54-53. Wong then hit three free throws to give the Beavers their first since early in the first half.

Kayla Valentine responded with a layup on the ensuing possession and Hicks put the Leopards up with her jumper, but Wong had one more shot in her.

Valentine led the Leopards with 15 points off the bench and Shannon Irwin had 12 points and seven rebounds.

Wong finished 18 points for Caltech and Lewis had game-highs of 22 points and nine rebounds.

The Leopards wrap up their season with a must-win game at Chapman on Saturday at 2 p.m.