Irvine Valley's women's basketball team let one get away Wednesday night in its Orange Empire Conference opener against Cypress.
The Chargers rallied to beat the Lasers, 64-61, at Irvine Valley.
Irvine Valley had a five-point lead with under three minutes to play, but couldn't hold on.
The win improved Cypress' record to 10-8 overall. Irvine Valley, which was riding a two-game win streak and had won six of its last seven games, fell to 11-6.
Irvine Valley trailed by as many as eight points and were up by as many as eight points in the first half.
The Lasers went into halftime ahead, 35-32.
The game was back and forth most of the second half with Cypress jumping back in front, 42-41, on a three-point play by Ashley Juarez with 13:52 left to play.
A three-pointer by Juarez gave Cypress a 45-41 lead with 13:29 to go.
Irvine Valley scored four in a row, including getting a basket by freshman forward Alexis Casillas to go in front, 46-45, with 11:53 left.
Cypress led, 49-46, after a jumper by Lauren Hong with 6:44 to play.
And then Irvine Valley went on a 9-0 run over the next two minutes to seem to take control.
Freshman guard Kendall Peterson capped the run with a three-pointer to put IVC up, 55-49, with 4:54 to go.
Irvine Valley still led 58-53 after a layup by Casillas with 2:47 left.
But the Lasers only scored three points the rest of the way.
IVC held its last lead at 60-59 after a free throw by sophomore guard Kiara King with 1:21 remaining.
Two free throws by Denshay Wallace with 1:07 to play gave Cypress a 61-60 lead.
Peterson made one of two free throws for IVC to tie it at 61-61 with 1:00 left.
Breanna Patton grabbed an offensive rebound and scored with 50 seconds to play to put Cypress ahead, 63-61.
Irvine Valley turned the ball over its next time down the floor and after a foul, Wallace made one free throw to give Cypress a 64-61 advantage with 21 seconds left.
King missed a three-pointer for Irvine Valley and even though Cypress missed two free throws, Irvine Valley turned the ball over in the final seconds and couldn't get a shot off.
Rebounding was the difference in the game. Cypress shot only 29.4 percent (20 of 68) from the field for the game, but out-rebounded Irvine Valley, 55-46, and, 22-12, on the offensive end.
Haley Gorman did most of the work down low for Cypress. She finished with 21 rebounds (nine offensive and 12 defensive). Gorman added eight points.
Hong paced Cypress with 19 points and five steals. Cypress had 14 steals in the game.
Wallace chipped in 14 points for the Chargers.
IVC was led by Casillas with 18 points and 14 rebounds. King had 15 points and seven assists, Peterson finished with nine points and four assists and freshman center Breanna Turner had eight points and eight rebounds for the Lasers.
Irvine Valley plays again on Friday, hosting Orange Coast at 7:30 p.m.
