2-1
Loyola Marymount
2-1
Second-Half Rally Propels LMU Past Cal Poly, 77-58
11/19/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- Forward Alex Cowling scored 31 points and grabbed 11 rebounds and Loyola Marymount pulled away in the final 11 minutes for a 77-58 victory over Cal Poly in a non-conference women's basketball game Friday night in Mott Gym.
Through the first 29 minutes of the game, the score was tied five times and the lead changed hands six times before the visiting Lions scored nine unanswered points to turn a 47-46 deficit into a 55-47 lead and never looked back.
Four consecutive free throws by Cowling capped the run with 9:42 to play and Loyola Marymount built a pair of 19-point leads late in the game.
The result left both teams with early season 2-1 records.
Guard Hazel Ramirez added 15 points and four assists while forward Candice Nichols contributed 11 points, six rebounds and four assists for the Lions.
Cal Poly, which opened the season with wins over Seattle and Fresno State, was led in scoring by Ashlee Burns off the bench with 14 points. Starters Rachel Clancy and Jonae Ervin each added 10 points -- Clancy scoring eight of her points in the first four minutes of the game.
Loyola Marymount hit 61.5 percent of its floor shots in the second half to turn the close game into a romp and finished with 48.2 percent accuracy while Cal Poly connected on just 36.2 percent of its floor shots.
Rebounds were even at 37 apiece, but Cal Poly turned the ball over 18 times, seven more than Loyola Marymount.
Cal Poly sprinted to a 13-7 lead in the first five minutes. Clancy hit a pair of three-pointers and Burns added one of her own for the quick early lead.
The Mustangs led by as many as eight points midway through the first half before the Lions mounted a comeback, using a 14-2 run to erase a 23-16 deficit and settling for a 30-27 advantage at the break.
After Loyola Marymount stretched its lead to seven points early in the second half, Cal Poly put together a rally of its own, tying the game at 41-41 on another three-pointer by Burns and taking a 43-41 lead on a pair of free throws by Abby Bloetscher with 12:53 to play.
Burns hit another three-pointer for a 47-46 Mustang lead with 11:34 to play, but that was Cal Poly's last advantage of the night as Loyola Marymount regained the lead on a three-pointer by Nichols and never looked back.
Cal Poly returns to action Monday with a 9 a.m. PST game at Illinois.
