LOS ANGELES — The University of La Verne women's basketball team overcame a slow start and put itself in position to win late. But the comeback attempt fell short as the Occidental College Tigers held on to defeat La Verne 78-74.

With under a minute left in the game and the Leopards trailing 74-69, Casey Kuramoto's three-point attempt went off the mark but Dejanee Gill grabbed a timely rebound. The junior dished a pass to an open Jazzlyn Johnson who drained a shot from beyond the arc to put La Verne within two points of Occidental's lead.

But Occidental's Taylor Yoshida quickly made it a two-possession game with an easy layup on the other end of the floor. Johnson would again get the Leoaprs to within two points after she laid in a basket with six seconds left. But La Verne was forced to foul to stop the clock and Raveena Dhiman made both of her free throws to seal the win for the Tigers.

Destinee Garcia earned her second double-double of the season. The senior finished 15 points off 7-11 shooting and 10 rebounds. She also added two blocks, one assist, and one steal.

Johnson led the Leopards with 19 points to go with four rebounds and an assist. Gill scored 13 points, grabbed eight rebounds, dealt five assists, and added two steals.

The Leopards scored just 18 points in the first but responded after the break and outscored the Tigers 56-41 in the second half.

After trailing by 16 points early in the four quarter, the Leopards went on a 23-9 run to get to within two points of the Tigers' lead with 2:41 left to play.

Occidental was led by Taylor Yoshida's game-high 20 points, Maylene Hughes' 15 points, and Michaela Smith's 15 points.

Season Impact

La Verne moves to 13-10 overall and 6-9 in the SCIAC. Occidental improves to 7-17 overall and 2-13 in conference play. The Tigers improve to 7-17 and 2-13.

Next Game

The Leopards close out SCIAC play this Saturday at 4 p.m. when they host Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.