LOS ANGELES — The Occidental women's basketball team was the better team for nearly 40 minutes in a non-conference game against St. Catherine at Rush Gymnasium on Saturday.

But Meg Clark made a driving left-handed layup with 2.8 seconds remaining and the Wildcats stole a 54-53 victory from the Tigers. 

It was St. Catherine's first lead since opening the game with a 2-0 advantage.

After Oxy called a timeout to advance the ball to half court with 2.8 seconds left, Dru Ishibashi had a decent look at a 3-pointer off of the bounce that would have won the game, but it missed just short as the buzzer sounded.

Oxy's Grace Baranowski had a big first half, helping the Tigers jump out to a 16-11 lead after the first quarter and 34-23 lead by halftime. The sophomore from Tucson scored 11 of her team-high 13 points through the first 20 minutes and finished with seven rebounds and a pair of steals.

Baronowski's only bucket of the second half gave Oxy its biggest edge of the fourth quarter, putting the Tigers up 53-45 with 3:21 to go.

Ciara Byrne chipped in 11 points and four rebounds for Oxy and Kendahl Wallis-Lang had nine points and eight rebounds off of the bench.

Shauna Horsch led St. Catherine with 22 points and Mari Lee added 10. 

Horsch's biggest bucket gave St. Catherine's comeback legs, cutting Oxy's lead to one possession at 53-50 with 1:46 to play. 

Kennedy Jennings made three free throws — her only three points of the game — and secured a defensive rebound with 20 seconds left that set up the Wildcats' game-winning scoring possession. 

The Tigers shot 50 percent from the field in the first half, but just 26 percent in the second half.

Mackenzie Bretz scored six points and grabbed nine rebounds in 38 minutes played for the Tigers. 

Season Impact: The Tigers fall to 0-3 on the season. St. Catherine improves to 3-0 and has beaten Whittier and Oxy from the SCIAC.

Next Game: The Tigers play Linfield on Sunday at 2 p.m.