Women’s basketball fell short in a close PacWest conference battle against the Fresno Pacific University Sunbirds at home on Saturday. The Eagles worked closely behind the Sunbirds and looked to push the game into overtime. In the final four seconds, freshman forward Danita Estorga fell short on a three-point attempt as the Eagles lost by a final score of 60-57.
In the first quarter, the Eagles came out strong and played closely against the Sunbirds. Biola scored 14 points in the paint in the first quarter alone and tied the score twice. The Eagles trailed at the end of the first quarter by a score of 23-19.
After their successful first quarter, Biola began to drop off in the second quarter. The Eagles scored 10 points in the paint and four points off of turnovers as they fell behind at the half, 40-32.
In the opening of the second half of the game, the Eagles worked to move ahead of the Sunbirds. Biola strengthened their defense on the Sunbirds to lessen the gap to 52-46.
In the fourth quarter, the Eagles looked to jump ahead of the Sunbirds by grabbing 13 rebounds and scoring 11 points. In the final four seconds of the match, the Eagles got a good look at forcing overtime, but fell short from a missed three-point shot by Estorga.
“I was confident that as a team we could execute any play that we called and we did,” said head coach Alan Nakamura. “We are playing well and I think we are gonna continue an upward trend on our best basketball [games] ahead of us.”
Junior guard Tatum Brimley led the Eagles with 15 points and two steals.
“I just really wanted to get an open three and make it…to tie the game,” Brimley said. “I really want to beat Hawaii this season. It’s going to be another test and I think building for that game is really what we are focusing on.”
Overall, the Eagles grabbed 34 points in the paint and 17 bench points. Sophomore forward Jazz Benn made three assists and senior forward Sara Dougan retrieved six rebounds.
The loss moved the Eagles to 6-6 in conference and 8-10 overall. They will continue play against Chaminade University in Honolulu, Hawaii on Jan. 31 at 8:30 p.m. PT.
