After the Hope International Royals defeated the Eagles and spoiled their senior night, the bracket for the Golden State Athletic Conference tournament released. With the taste of defeat still fresh, the stage was set perfectly for the Eagles to gain revenge and finish Hope’s season. However, Hope held off the Eagles to win 63-50.

two early steals

Less than three minutes into the game, Biola found themselves up 10-5 thanks to sophomore guard Danielle Kennedy’s two early steals. Hope rallied back from their early stumbles and never looked back. They finished the quarter with a 20-13 advantage and held onto the lead for the rest of the game.  

The Royals opened the second quarter by draining a three and extending their lead to 10. They maintained this margin and finished the half up 32-21.

Kennedy led the team in both scoring and rebounding in the first half with seven and four respectively. Senior forward Taylor Casey also had four rebounds accompanied by four points.

too little too late

After regrouping over halftime, the Eagles kept better pace with the Royals and were only outscored by two in the half. Their run was too little too late as Biola never overcame their first half deficit. Hope won 63-50.

Sophomore guard DeMoria White returned to the lineup for this game after sitting out Biola’s senior night, where they lost to Hope 51-61. In her first game back, she led the team in scoring with 12 points while grabbing six rebounds and dishing out three assists. Kennedy finished the game with 11 points, followed by Casey who scored 10 points with her eight rebounds.  

Hope continued on to the semifinals of the GSAC tournament where they lost to Westmont University 72-58. On March 8 Westmont defeated Vanguard University to become this season’s GSAC champions.  

many obstacles this season

Biola finished their season with a regular season record of 14-17 while being 7-8 in conference. The team faced many obstacles this season including a new head coach, Alan Nakamura, and the redshirting of senior guard Annie Park as well as junior guard Khadidja Diakite. Despite this they only suffered two more losses than last season.

“I would consider this a successful season,” said Aubree Mittel, senior guard. “We had a new coach and such a young team but we still finished tied for fourth in GSAC…This year was a really fun year for me because of my team. We all got along so great and had such a fun time together no matter what we were doing. It really made all the practices and games that much more fun.”