Irvine Valley's women's basketball team fell into second place in the Orange Empire Conference standings after losing to Riverside, 71-66, at home on Tuesday night.
The Lasers' record fell to 19-5 overall and 9-2 in conference. Cypress, which beat Santa Ana easily on Tuesday, improved to 18-7 overall and 10-1 in the OEC.
Irvine Valley struggled to make shots in the game. The Lasers shot just 29.3 percent (24 of 82) in the game as a team. They also made just 23.1 percent of their three-point attempts and 54.5 percent of their free throws.
Riverside (12-10, 8-3) led, 20-16, after the end of the first quarter and was up, 37-32, at the half.
Irvine Valley tied the game at 54 on a free throw by freshman guard Anai Washington with 26 seconds left in the third quarter.
But Dayna Dewitt, who had a big night for Riverside scored with 14 seconds left to give RCC a 54-52 advantage heading into the final period.
And Riverside out-scored Irvine Valley, 9-2, to open the fourth quarter. Trinity Vasquez's layup put Riverside in front, 63-54, with 4:13 left to play.
The Lasers didn't give in and clawed back late. A three-pointer by Washington got IVC within 67-64 with 25 seconds left.
But Vasquez made one free throw, Vasquez sank two free throws to help close the game out.
Dewitt finished with 33 points and 15 rebounds to lead Riverside.
Vasquez added 20 points and six rebounds and Kierra Roberts had seven points and 17 rebounds for the Tigers.
Washington had 16 points and 13 rebounds and Vail finished with 16 points, seven assists and six steals for Irvine Valley. Freshman center Zoe Stachowski chipped in 11 points and 15 rebounds and freshman guard Megan Herrera had 10 points, five rebounds and five steals for the Lasers.
Irvine Valley plays again on Thursday in a conference game at Copper Mountain at 7 p.m.
