Devon Michaels leads the Leopards past Caltech with 18 points.
Elsie Ramos
Staff Writer
Emotions ran high on Saturday as the women’s basketball team beat the Caltech Beavers, 73-37, on a night where both teams honored their senior players.
Before tip-off, La Verne senior guard Tedra Clark and center Corinne Watkins met with their parents at center court to receive recognition.
Caltech senior guard Lisa Yee was also honored with a round of applause from the crowd and her teammates.
“It was a great experience, I got to play with the greatest bunch of girls,” Clark said. “They were the best teammates I could have asked for.”
Once the emotional ceremony ended, the Leopards refocused and didn’t waste any time in taking complete control of the game.
After being down 2-0, La Verne went on a 20-0 run and never looked back.
The Leopards shot 44 percent from the field and were lead by freshmen, guard Devon Michaels, who scored a game high 18 points.
“The ball just felt like it was going to go in,” Michaels said, “But everyone contributed and played as a team.”
“People were hitting their shots and working hard – everyone, including the bench,” said junior guard Chantal Crouzet.
Yee led the Beavers with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Caltech shot a mere 28 percent from the field and 20 percent from the three point line.
The win by the Leopards came after suffering their worst loss of the season against Occidental, a game in which they were blown out, 76-41.
“It feels pretty good to come out here and win after a really bad loss to Oxy,” said junior guard Ashley Paul.
“It’s so good to win our last game because it was so hard for us to constantly have to come back and try to win,” Clark said.
With a few seconds left on the clock, head coach Lindsey Shiomi took both seniors out of the game so they could receive a much deserved standing ovation from their teammates and crowd.
“It was really important for them to go out with a win to remember La Verne,” Paul said.
Clark ended the season averaging seven points per game and shooting 37 percent from the field, while Watkins averaged five points per game and shot 43 percent from the field.
Leading the team in scoring for the Leopards was Paul, with 11.4 points per game, and sophomore guard Clarissa Holz led the team in rebounds, with 8.1 per game.
The Leopards ended the season with a record of 12-13 and a conference record of 5-9, finishing sixth in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
Next season La Verne is expected to have five seniors on their roster and they have high hopes for themselves.
“We just want to win next year,” Crouzet said, “We want to come out on top.”
Elsie Ramos can be reached at elsie.ramos@laverne.edu.
