Women’s basketball played their first home game of their NCAA Division llseason against Northwest Nazarene University on Nov. 16. The Eagles won by a final score of 67-64.

STRONG DEFENSE

The first period of the game proved competitive for the Eagles. The women played a strong defense and struggled with making shots on offense. The starting lineup of senior guard Demoria White, sophomore guard Tatum Brimley, sophomore guard Brenna Khaw, junior forward Sarah Dougan and sophomore forward Mikayla Greens struggled with making shots and rebounding the ball. NNU forced several turnovers, which left the Eagles in the dust throughout the first period. At the end of the first quarter NNU lead with a score of 18-7. In the second quarter, the Eagles worked harder on making shots and getting rebounds. Biola rebounded the ball 11 times and the second quarter ended with the score of 30-23.

In the game’s second half, many of the women worked harder by shooting for more points and strengthening their offense. The Eagles rebounded the ball 23 times and scored 25 points off of free throws alone in the period. The third quarter ended in a tie of 44-44. In the last 40 seconds of the game, the Eagles grew frustrated as NNU fouled them intentionally and gained possession of their free throw to shoot a three pointer. This fouling happened numerous times before the clock reached zero. Both White and Brimley made seven of eight free throw shots during the last 40 seconds to win the game. The team had 24 turnovers, 14 assists and seven steals throughout the game.

Head coach Alan Nakamura thought the game proved difficult against an undefeated team’s strategy. He believes every game is difficult and the pre-season games helped with jumping into the new level of competition.

‘THE GAME IS NEVER OVER’

“As a coach the game is never over. We can be up by 20, we can be down 20. We are still coaching the same and the players keep playing the same,” Nakamura said. “The only thing the scoreboard affects is our strategy. We just need to keep working together… and being really determined and tough no matter who we face and where we face them.”

Brimley scored 19 points for the Eagles and helped the team on defense.

“I tried to help bring the ball up and move the ball around the best I could,” Brimley said. “We played really good on defense and we picked up our intensity.”

The win moved the team to 1-1 for the season. The Eagles next game will be away against Saint Martin’s University in Lacey, Wash. at 7 p.m. on Nov. 21.