LOS ANGELES — Monica Garcia Silva could not be stopped. The junior scored 48 points, grabbed 18 rebounds, and dished out six assists as the University of La Verne women's basketball team scored a 93-84 road win over the Occidental College Tigers Wednesday night.

Garcia Silva shot 59 percent from the field in her incredible scoring performance. Her 48 points rank as the second most points scored in a game in Leopard history. The La Verne record is held by Leslee Rogers who dropped 52 points against La Sierra in 1996.

The junior transfer from East Los Angles College scored 31 points in the second half to help the Leopards pull away from the Tigers late. She grabbed her 16 of her 18 rebounds on the defensive end of the floor.

Despite Garcia Silva's scoring output the Leopards and Tigers headed into the fourth quarter knotted up 58-58. La Verne finally began to pull away halfway through the period after Jazzlyn Johnson knocked down down a three-pointer and Alexa Withers and Garcia Silva scored back-to-back buckets to put their squad up 80-69.

Johnson totaled 20 points, 13 of them in the fourth quarter alone. The freshman is averaging 14.1 points per game and has finished in double figures in all but two games this season.

Bailey Kurahashi added eight points with a pair of buckets from beyond the arc. 

The Tigers were led by Alyssa Ramlochan's 20 points and Taylor Yoshida 16 points.

Season Impact

The Leopards score back-to-back and improve their overall record to 4-3. With a month before their next conference game, the Leopards gain an important SCIAC win that pushes them to 2-1 in SCIAC play. Occidental falls to 5-4 overall and 0-2 in the conference. 

Next Game

The Leopards next go on a four-game nonconference stretch. La Verne will first host on Northern New Mexico on Monday, December 17 at 3 p.m. before match-ups against Sul Ros State, UC Merced, and San Diego Christian.