by Enrique Gutiérrez
Staff Writer
One out of two.
That was the women’s basketball team’s efficiency during its two-game home stand.
The Leopards (8-15, 3-7) defeated the University of Redlands, 67-63, on Friday in what was a extremely close game that could had gone either way. But the Leopards were blown out by Cal Lutheran on Tuesday in what was a completely different game.
The Regals came out on fire and set the pace of the game from its first minutes, as they defeated the Leopards, 91-59.
“We just got beat by a better team,” said La Verne head coach Julie Kline. “Man to man, they’re a better team.”
It certainly was a tough night for the Leopards; one to forget, many people would say.
But no one should forget all the intensity the Leopards put into this game.
They left their hearts and souls on the court.
“Even if we are losing, we never give up. That shows how much heart we have and that is key to our team,” said senior guard Heather Johnson.
Johnson’s team-high 16 points were not enough to keep the Leopards in the game as Cal-Lu’s sophomore guard Nicole Sanchez took over the ballgame.
Sanchez scored 15 second half points and left the game with over seven minutes remaining on the clock.
Six of her 10 baskets were from the three-point range.
“I was getting open shots and the three-pointers were falling,” Sanchez said.
She finished with a game-high 26 points.
Sanchez got offensive help from junior forward Haley Jones who scored 23 points. Senior center Missy Rider added 14 for the Regals.
“We played well as a team. A lot of people did different things. We had people with assists and people with points which is good,” Sanchez said.
Cal Lu held an 18-point lead at halftime, 27-45.
The Sanchez factor became more noticeable during the first five minutes of the second half. She scored ten consecutive points for Cal Lu to take a 55-29 lead with 15:20 left in regulation.
“We had the height advantage and I think that worked in our favor a lot,” Sanchez said.
The Leopards trailed by as many as 43 points after a two-point jumper by senior guard Valery Brady with 3:15 left to play to set the score 91-48. That was the final basket of the game for the Regals.
Four nights before the Cal Lu game, the Leopards got involved in a tremendous basketball battle against Redlands.
Johnson scored seven free throws in the last two minutes of the game to lead La Verne to a 67-63 win over the Bulldogs.
Johnson sank two shots from the foul line with 1:52 left to play to break a 59-59 tie. Later, she converted another two shots from the same spot with 8.1 seconds on the clock to put the game away.
“I don’t really look to score points, but it was a team effort,” said Johnson, who took over the game in the second half. “I think it has a lot to do with the players around me that help me out a lot.”
She scored 21 of her game-high 26 points in the second half, including four of her five three-point baskets.
“They showed very good three-point shooting tonight,” said Redlands coach Jim Ducey.
La Verne made 9-of-26 three-point attempts, while Ducey’s team finished zero-of-7 on shots from behind the arc.
ULV dominated most of the first half. The Leopards held the biggest lead of the game at 27-21 with 7:10 left in the first half.
However, the Bulldogs fought back with a rebound basket by sophomore Christy Curtis and took a 34-33 lead with 1:16 in the half.
The Leopards trailed, 36-33, when the halftime buzzer sounded.
“It was a great game. We played hard the whole game and made some adjustments at halftime that were key for us to slow them down a bit, especially their key scorers,” said Kline.
They actually did a tremendous job containing the Bulldogs’ Sonia Delgado and Jessica Huber at a dozen points each. They average 18 and 16 points per game, respectively.
“We really pulled together in the second half,” Johnson said. “It was a team effort and doing what you are supposed to do. That got us the win.”
The Leopards also stopped Marcie Kowalski, who was a constant threat during the first half. She scored 12 points coming off the bench in that period and finished the game with a team-high 13 points.
For La Verne, Isa Lose scored 13 in 23 minutes off the bench, including a free throw to tie the game at 59 with 3:07 in the game. She also grabbed seven rebounds.
Other top contributors for the Leopards were senior forward Jennifer Spring with 11 points, eight boards and two blocked shots, while junior guard Michelle Ballard grabbed 10 boards. Freshman guard Kelly Obrero led the Leopards with four assists and added seven points.
The team plays at Whittier tonight at 7:30 and has its home finale Tuesday hosting the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Athenas at 7:30 p.m.
Enrique Gutiérrez
