La Verne Uses Fourth-Quarter Run to Edge CMS Women's Basketball

LA VERNE, Calif. – The La Verne women's basketball team started the fourth quarter with an 8-0 run to break open a back-and-forth game and take a 62-55 win over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Wednesday evening at the La Verne Sports Pavilion.

With the loss, CMS slips to 3-6 overall and 1-2 in the SCIAC, while the Leopards improve to 4-3 overall and 1-2 in league play with the win. Flora Durgerian and Austyn Masuno each led CMS with 12 points and seven rebounds apiece, while Ruva Kiara also chipped in with seven rebounds off the bench. Jazzlyn Johnson led all scorers for the Leopards with 15. 

La Verne was clinging to a 53-51 lead heading into the fourth quarter, before holding CMS without a point for nearly the first six minutes of the final stanza, as it stretched the lead up to 61-51. Masuno broke the skid with a layup with 4:03 left, then stole the ball at the other end to give the Athenas a glimmer of hope.

CMS kept getting big stops to give itself a chance, but it didn't close to within six until the final minute when a Kayla Ishibashi putback made the score 61-55. Alyssa Ono then sealed the win by making one of two foul shots with 24 seconds left.

The Athenas had a strong finish to the first quarter to take a 17-13 lead after the first 10 minutes. La Verne held a 10-8 lead, before CMS went on a 9-1 run, capped off by a Durgerian three-pointer with 15 seconds left, to pull ahead 17-11. The Leopards closed out the first with a basket to make it a four-point lead, but CMS took the momentum into the second quarter and used a Masuno three-point play to go ahead 20-13, and a Jocelyn Song three-pointer to take a 23-16 lead.

La Verne took the momentum back, and went ahead 31-26 late in the half, before Ava Grey sparked the Athenas with a three-pointer, a steal, and a layup to tie the score at 31-31. The Leopards answered with a three-pointer on their final possession, though, to earn a 34-31 lead heading into the break.

That deficit was quickly erased by a three-pointer by a three-pointer from Jacey Carter to start the second half, and Durgerian put the Athenas in front with another three-pointer on the next possession. La Verne again built a five-point lead, but this time Kiara was able to provide the spark, hitting 4-4 free throws, getting a putback off another missed foul shot, and adding a steal at the defensive end to pull CMS within 53-51 heading into the fourth.

CMS will have 10 days off before returning to action on Dec. 18-19 at the UC Santa Cruz Tournament, facing the host Banana Slugs on Saturday at 5 p.m. and Whitman on Sunday at 3 p.m. The Athenas will then have another two weeks off, before resuming SCIAC play against Caltech on Wednesday, Jan. 5 at 7 p.m.