Nate Rodriguez, Sports Information Intern

La Verne, CA - The Leopards suffered their first conference loss of the season on Saturday, a dramatic back-and-forth ballgame that the Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens won 88-84.

After an explosive first half, the Leopards cooled down offensively; largely in part to the Sagehens defense forcing La Verne inside the perimeter. Marissa Howell still led the team with six three-pointers, several of which she drained all the way from Santa Clarita. Howell led the team with 20 points. Chiara Brown also impacted the game offensively, scoring 14 points and tallying seven rebounds. Two other Leopards starters scored double-digit points, reigning SCIAC Defensive Player of the Week Dejanee Gill and Dawson Bell.

La Verne remains atop the SCIAC standings despite falling to the Sagehens. Their 18 consecutive wins stand as the longest streak in program history. Head coach Jason Pruitt talked about the history that had been made and the expectations going forward for his ladies. "The pursuit of perfection will put pressure on a team that you cannot explain.  It was a good run, 18 in a row.  We made history and the ladies need to be proud of their accomplishments.  The streak is over and now it is time to start a new one. We didn't perform with the appropriate energy on defense and really struggled at that end of the floor.  We've got to play better defense. We've got to defend without fouling.  I'm very disappointed because we played well enough to win.  That's a very disappointed locker room. We needed some stops down at the end. We just couldn't get stops at the end and that was an issue. I'm disappointed in the final outcome, but can't be any more proud in the way they competed. Thank God we get another chance to compete and play another day!"

The Leopards have two games left on the schedule, including senior night on Wed. Feb 15 inside the Tents at 7 p.m.