La Verne, CA — The University of La Verne Leopards dropped the SCIAC opener at home to the Pomona Pitzer Sagehens, despite a record night for Kayla Rubio who tied the single game record for rebounds with 24. 

With the game tied late in the fourth quarter, Pomona Pitzer went on a 5-0 run to take a 70-65 lead with 1:41 remaining in the game. Marissa Howell knocked down a corner 3, her third of the game, to bring the Leopards within 2 points with 37 seconds left. La Verne got the ball back after a missed shot by the Sagehens and called a timeout to set up a sideline out-of-bounds play with 9 seconds left in the game and trailing 70-68. Leopards guard, Jazzlyn Johnson set up Howell for a potential game winning three, but the Sagehens defense prevailed forcing a missed shot at the buzzer and escaping with a 70-68 point win. 

Single Game Record

Reigning Leopard of the Week, Kayla Rubio, tied a single game record for rebounds with 24 boards in 34 minutes, picking up her second double-double of the season with 12 points. Rubio tied Wendy Gibbs who corralled 24 rebounds against Occidental on February 16, 1990. Rubio now has 62 rebounds on the season, averaging 12.4 rebounds per game. 

Season Impact 

The Sagehens improved to 3-4 on the season and 1-0 in SCIAC. The Leopards dropped to 3-2 overall and 0-1 in SCIAC.

The Leopards and Sagehens traded baskets in the first quarter, with Pomona Pitzer leading 21-19 after the first. The Sagehens were led by Madison Quan who scored 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting in the first quarter, including knocking down a trio of three pointers. Casey Kuramoto of the Leopards matched Quan with three triples of her own, scoring 9 points in the first quarter. 

La Verne got contributions off the bench from Howell in the second quarter, who swished home two 3's, including a buzzer-beater from downtown to end the first half. The Leopards outscored the Sagehens in the second quarter by 7 points and held a 5 point lead at halftime, 44-39. 

The second half pace slowed down as both teams struggled to find the mark from the field. However, Amara Chidom led Pomona-Pitzer in the third quarter scoring 6 points helping trim the Leopard lead to 3 points to end the third quarter trailing 58-55. 

And despite a back-and-forth exchange throughout the remainder of the game, the Sagehens did just enough to hang on for the victory.

Next Up

The Leopards will be back in action this Saturday at 4:00 PM against Occidental in the Tents.