Stealing the basketball has always come naturally to senior point guard Charrise Reece; it’s fitting that she leads the team in steals, averaging 2.8 per game. Ironically, after recording eight steals in a 51-49 loss at Azusa Pacific University on Jan. 3, Reece entered the final minutes of a crucial rematch at home almost a month later against the rival Cougars without a steal to her name.
She proceeded to steal the game.
“I missed my layup so I figured I had to do something to get it back on defense,” Reece said, whose only steal of the game resulted in a breakaway layup, giving the Eagles a two-point lead with seven seconds remaining. “I just feel like she exposed it and I hit it and once I saw it was loose my main goal was just to get the ball in the basket after that and get back on defense.”
The 51-49 upset victory over the 12th-ranked Cougars was a little sweeter for Reece, who’s entering her final year at Biola.
“Since this is the last year [of Azusa] being in our conference with us, that makes it even better,” Reece said.
Eagles come alive during recent streak
The win seems to have given the Eagles the boost they were looking for to turn around an otherwise mediocre first half of the season. Following the win over Azusa, the Eagles have won six of seven, including five in a row after a victory Tuesday night, Feb. 21, over San Diego Christian College.
“We are young but we’re still battling,” Reece said of a team consisting of seven underclassmen. “We’ve improved and I feel like we have a good chance of going back to nationals and getting to the final four. That’s our goal.”
Despite their young, inexperienced team, Reece says this goal is reachable, as the team is not only gaining much-needed experience with each practice, but also, the underclassmen are contributing like veterans.
“We have a sophomore who is stepping up big,” Reece said of sophomore center Adijat Adams, who scored 24 points last week at Fresno Pacific University.
Reece credits her young teammates
Reece also gave high praise to freshman forward Chelsea Hill, whose 22 points, along with Adams’ 24, accounted for more than half the team’s points against Fresno Pacific.
The girls have one more conference game remaining, a home match-up Saturday night, Feb. 25, against The Master’s College, which Reece says is crucial for a good seed in the upcoming Golden State Athletic Conference playoff tournament.
“If we finish out these last games we will have a playoff seed and a home game, which gives us a good look and going into hopefully being ranked and getting a bid for nationals,” Reece said. “We know that our season is more of a marathon and not a sprint.”
