San Diego, CA - The University of Portland women’s basketball team was out-rebounded and out-shot by the Loyola Marymount Lions and lost a 61-47 decision in the first round of the WCC tournament on Thurs., Mar. 6 at the Jenny Craig Pavilion. Portland ends its season with an 11-17 overall record, 5-9 in WCC Play. Loyola Marymount improves to 14-14 on the season and 5-9 in the WCC. With the win, the LMU Lions will face No. 3 seed Santa Clara at noon on Fri., Mar. 7.

The Lions jumped out to a 16-5 lead with 11:20 left in the first half. Portland pushed ahead, trying to cut LMU’s lead, but the Lions wouldn’t quit and went into the break leading, 41-23. In the first half alone, Portland was out-shot, 18-38 to 4-16 from the field and was out-rebounded, 24-10. The Pilots shot just 25 percent (1-4) from behind the arc and 78 percent (14-18) from the free-throw line, while Loyola Marymount was 50 percent (2-4) from three-point range and a perfect 3-3 from the free-throw line.

The second half was just as tough for the Pilots. The Lions had an 18-point cushion coming out of the break and chipping away at the lead was a struggle for Portland. The Pilots weren’t able to recover from the double-figure deficit as the Lions went on to win, 61-47 and advance to game three of the WCC Tournament.

“I give all the credit to LMU today,” said Head Coach Jim Sollars. “They did a great job and executed their game plan.”

For Portland, Hanna Seltzer led the team with 13 points on 3-of-9 shooting from the field, 3-of-4 shooting from behind the arc and 4-of-6 shooting from the free-throw line. Teammate Khalila O’Rielly-Williams added 12 points and six rebounds in the game and Jamie Medley chipped in eight points. For the game, Portland shot 31 percent (12-39) from the field, 43 percent (6-14) from three-point range and 77 percent (17-22) from the free-throw line.

“Obviously we didn’t play our best today,” said Sollars. “We got destroyed on the boards, we didn’t shoot the ball well and we didn’t execute. I am unhappy with the loss, but am proud of our overall effort.”

The Lions saw three players score in double-figures for the game. Rachel Ziemann led all players with 15 points and eight rebounds, while teammate Jennifer Henry totaled 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the field and 2-of-2 shooting from behind the arc. Adrianne Slaughter added 10 points for LMU. As a team, LMU shot 25-of-63 (40 percent) from the floor, 3-of-6 (50 percent) from three-point range and 8-of-9 from the free-throw line.