Nate Rodriguez, Sports Information Intern
La Verne, CA – The Leopards continued their strong play on Wednesday evening with an 80-51 rout over the Caltech Beavers, extending their win streak to 11 games.
After a slow first quarter for coach Jason Pruitt's Leos, guard Jazzlyn Johnson dazzled off the bench in the second quarter to catalyze the La Verne offense. Johnson notched 12 points in the minutes leading up to the half, penetrating inside and helping herself out with four rebounds.
Chiara Brown led the offensive charge throughout the night, scoring a game-high 21 points on 56% shooting. The Leopards' forward was perfect at the line and finished with seven rebounds in 24 minutes.
Not to be overlooked were Dawson Bell's seven assists. Bell and Brown had a strong connection throughout the night, using their height in mismatches under the rim to pad the lead in the third quarter.
More than half of La Verne's points came off the bench. Senior guard Casey Kuramoto splashed two deep triples from the NCAA logo and Johnson finished second in scoring with 19 points. Head coach Jason Pruitt understands the importance of everybody on his team being prepared to play. "Basketball is a team sport. When one person has an off game, it's supposed to be next player up. Tonight, was a night when some of our key players were off and certain players that came off the bench had to step up their performance. You play how you practice and tonight we did. Our last practice was not up to par, and it showed tonight. That's when we need our senior leadership to kick in and take control of the team. We will all learn from our mistakes and get better at practice. We kind of let off in the fourth quarter. It happens, but we won the game. I'm glad we didn't blow the game. I've been in games like this where you end up losing them, and that hurts. But either way, at the end of the day, we got up 20 or 25. I thought we should've been up way more all game. The best player in the conference did not play tonight for Caltech and we are so lucky she did not play. At the end of the day we've got to score quick. And that's what teams think, so we have to get better at it. Our communication has to be a whole lot better matching up. Just that emphasis can really help us get better as a team. Like always, we are just thankful to play the game that we love."
The Leopards improved to 14-1 with the victory and remain undefeated in SCIAC play. Their lone opponent yet to be played is Occidental University, who will host the Leopards on Wednesday, Jan. 18.
La Verne hosts Bethesda for their next game this Saturday, Jan. 14 at 2pm.
