Jan 19, 2023
Los Angeles, CA - In tonight's women's basketball matchup, The University of La Verne traveled to Occidental College to finish the first round of conference play.
The Leopards look to defend their undefeated record in the conference with a formidable opponent like the Tigers. In a battle from the jump, the Leopards and Tigers needed help to get a comfortable lead. The Leopards fell to a ten-point deficit in the second half. La Verne struggled to find a rhythm against Occidental's play. La Verne made their final run in the fourth quarter overcoming their deficit and winning on a last-second floater down the middle. Dejanae Gill gave the Leopards the lead at the last second before the final buzzer. She finished with 14 points and 14 rebounds, earning herself a double-double for the night. Dawson Bell contributed 12 points, along with four rebounds. Chiara Brown controlled the boards with 12 rebounds and 9 points. Head coach Jason Pruitt praised his team's heart to come back to win a tough game on the road. "During my time in Los Angeles, Occidental College has always been a tough place for my teams to play. I have taken two championship programs to Eagle Rock and it is always a struggle. I think Occidental has one of the best rosters in the conference every year and it's one of my least favorite venues. They do a good job creating a game-day atmosphere.
Tonight, was hard. We fought like crazy to stay close and then in the last couple of minutes, we got hot and gave ourselves a chance. We won the game, I celebrate that. We should focus on the positive stuff. Like, our ladies fought, we didn't have it tonight, we missed wide-open shots tonight. Wide open shots... When you do that, the other team is probably at some point going to make a run. A lot of teams, when they make a run, go the other way. We just hung in there. They got a big lead on us. How about focusing on the coming back? We actually were down by ten or more for a stretch. That, to me, should be celebrated, not the actual celebration.
I still hoop, my coaching staff still hoops, and we all still hoop with our players in practice. The celebration was the hooper in us. Dejanee hit a big shot, she deserved that shot. She puts in the extra work while being a graduate student and working a real job in her field of study. We are talking about a player that lost her senior year to COVID and came back to go to Graduate School two years later. Yeah, we celebrated her making that shot. She is the glue to our team and overall, a good leader and terrific person. She has used the talent that God gave her on and off the court to make a difference in the people that she comes in contact with. I'm happy for her and the way our team rallied around her. Go Leopards!"
The Leopard's next game will be against Whittier College on January 21st at 2 P.M at the tents
