The Biola women’s basketball team went 1-1 in conference play this week as they beat Hope International University 50-53 on Feb. 14 and lost in overtime against Concordia University 107-93 on Feb. 17.
The Eagles traveled to Fullerton to play the Royals for the second time this season. Junior forward Taylor Casey led the Eagles with a 19 point 16 rebound double-double, followed by junior guard Annie Park who had 17 points and two steals. Biola beat Hope 60-53.
Biola’s next opponent was Concordia University who traveled to the Eagles’ home court on Feb. 17, looking to overpower them for the second time this season after they beat the women 87-56 earlier this season.
The two teams exchanged five lead changes in the first half, and Biola would have had their first halftime lead against Concordia since 2012 if not for Concordia’s buzzer-beating three to cap off an 12-4 run for Concordia. Biola entered the half down 47-46.
“I think this time we just wanted it more,” said Casey. “We came out with that fire. We knew that they were going to be good competition. Our goal was basically to come out, play aggressive and not go down without a fight.”
The two teams continued to exchange the lead until the final seconds of the game when Park hit two free throws to put the Eagles up by one. Concordia answered with their own free throw attempts, making only one, tying the game with 16 seconds left. Three missed layups by Biola sent the game into overtime.
Concordia outscored Biola 21-7 in overtime for a final score of 107-93.
“They went on a little run,” said Park. “And that’s when our energy just dropped. We didn’t execute offensively or defensively, we got frazzled. And that fire that we had throughout the whole game just kind of died a little bit, and that’s when they were able to jump on it and take advantage of that.”
Park led the Eagles with a game high 31 points and five assists, followed by sophomore guard Khadidja Diakite with 16 points and two rebounds.
The Eagles were able to generate 37 more points and shot the ball 16.8 percent better against Concordia this game than they did earlier this season.
“Definitely compared to the last game [against Hope], despite the win, our shot selection wasn’t the best. This game we did a much better job of moving the ball and looking to get better, open shots, and tonight we were just able to knock down a lot of our shots.”
Biola now holds a season record of 15-12 while standing 7-6 in the Golden State Athletic Conference. Their next game is against the No. 9 Vanguard University. Vanguard has only lost one conference game and beat the Eagles 68-51 earlier this season.
“I think we just have to come out aggressive with that same intensity and stick to the game plan that Coach has for us,” said Casey. “I know that if we box out and play our defense and go up strong I know that we can beat them, because if we can get this close to Concordia, I think we got it against Vanguard.”
