Fans watched with bated breath as junior guard DeMoria White stood at the free-throw line for her third shot to tie the score at 69 against the California State University Dominguez Hills Toros and force overtime. Unfortunately, White’s shot hit the right side of the rim and bounced out, finishing the season-opener for the women’s basketball team in unfortunate fashion.
The score stayed close the entire first half, as CSU Dominguez Hills outscored the Eagles 21-19 in the first quarter, but Biola responded with tighter defense to finish the second quarter with the 15-12 advantage that gave them a 34-33 lead going into halftime.
Senior guard Annie Park led the Biola offense in the first half, putting nine points on the board as well as grabbing two steals in her 15 minutes on the court. White contributed eight points of her own in her 19 first-half minutes.
The Toros came out of the locker room in the second half and dominated the third quarter, outscoring Biola 19-5. CSUDH hit a number of key three-pointers and caused the Eagles to struggle to grab rebounds. Biola responded in dramatic fashion in the fourth quarter, scoring 29 compared to Dominguez Hills’ 19.
With eight seconds left on the clock and down 69-63, Park drained a deep three to give the Eagles a chance. On the resulting inbounds play from the Toros, White stole the ball and got fouled in the process of shooting a three-pointer with two-hundredths of a second left on the clock. She made the first two, but fell just short on the third attempt.
Freshman guard Tatum Brimley played good minutes, putting up 15 points in 21 minutes in her debut as an Eagle. Senior forward Joclyn Kirton also had a productive afternoon, finishing with 12 points on 6-10 shooting.
“For our first game of the year, I was really excited,” said head coach Alan Nakamura. “Our poise got better throughout the game, which we hoped for. The teamwork was really good. Everyone brought what they could contribute to the team.”
Biola takes to the court again on Wed, Nov. 3 at 5:30 p.m., when they face the Bethesda University Flames inside Chase Gymnasium.
