LA VERNE, Calif. -- The Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology women's basketball team opened their Southern California trip with a 64-61 loss to La Verne on Saturday.

La Verne scored the first bucket of the game to lead 2-0, but the Fightin' Engineers jumped out to a hot start scoring 16 of the next 18 points for a 16-4 lead in the first quarter, just over 5 minutes into the game. 

The Leopards would be playing from behind from that point on, and they were only able to cut the lead to one possession once in the first three quarters at 22-19 after the first possession of the second quarter.

The Fightin' Engineers extended their lead up to 16 at 57-41 with nine minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, but the Leopards would not go away quietly. They would answer with a 17-2 run to cut the lead to 59-58 with 58.9 seconds remaining. Jamie Baum would draw a foul and hit two free throws with 38 seconds to go, but La Verne would answer once again with a game-tying three pointer with 28.6 seconds remaining in the game.

La Verne would then take their first lead of the game since 2-0 with a pair of free throws with 11.2 seconds remaining, and they would hold on for a 64-61 victory. The Leopards led for just 23 seconds of the 40 minute game in the win.

Jamie Baum led the Fightin' Engineers with 25 points, and she added 7 rebounds.

Grace Roland was also in double figures with 14, and she led the team with 9 rebounds.

The Fightin' Engineers shot 22-24 from the free throw line to keep themselves in the game, but the Leopards used their eight three pointers to mount the comeback.

The 16-point comeback victory for La Verne ties the largest comeback win allowed by Rose-Hulman in program history. The Fightin' Engineers also allowed a 16-point comeback win to Southwestern on February 18, 2005. Rose-Hulman led 33-17 with 7:27 to go in the first half of that game.

Rose-Hulman will return to the court on Monday, November 20 at 7 PM PT as they take on the Caltech Beavers in the final game of their Southern California trip.