WCC tournaments: Ninth-seeded Lions beat Dons in OT; USD triumphs

LAS VEGAS – Anthony Ireland scored 16 points, including two big free throws late in overtime, and Loyola Marymount continued its surprising West Coast Conference tournament run with a 61-60 win over San Francisco on Thursday night.

Ireland scored all four LMU points in the extra session before Taylor Walker’s free throw gave the Lions (10-22) a 61-57 lead with 9 seconds left. San Francisco’s Cole Dickerson made a meaningless 3-pointer in the closing seconds to complete the scoring.

Godwin Okonji had 14 points and 10 rebounds for ninth-seeded Loyola, which entered the tournament on a 14-game losing streak before beating eighth-seeded Portland on Wednesday. Ashley Hamilton chipped in 11 points and 14 rebounds.

Dickerson had 23 points and 18 rebounds for the No. 5 seed Dons (14-16), and his tip-in with 9 seconds left sent the game to overtime.

LMU will face No. 4 seed Santa Clara in the quarterfinals today.

San Diego 62, Pepperdine 59: The sixth-seeded Toreros (15-17) held on to defeat the seventh-seeded Waves (4-12) in the late game.

The Toreros will play third-seeded BYU tonight at 8:30.

Johnny Dee scored 16 points and fellow guard Christopher Anderson added 10 for San Diego.

San Diego led by three at halftime. Pepperdine got as close as a point in the second half but never caught the Toreros.

Women

Portland 70, Santa Clara 64: Portland’s Kari Luttinen scored a game-high 17 points, which included a clutch 3-pointer, Jasmine Wooton added 16 and Cassandra Thompson finished with 14 as the No. 7 seed Pilots (11-19) advanced to the quarterfinals against No. 3 seed Saint Mary’s.

Sixth-seeded Santa Clara ended the season 14-16.

LMU 75, San Francisco 53: Deanna Johnson scored 17 points and Alex Cowling 15 as the fifth-seeded Lions defeated the No. 8 seed Dons.

With the victory, the Lions (13-17) advance to the tournament quarterfinals where they will face No. 4 seed BYU.

The Dons finish the season 12-19 overall.