Women’s basketball snapped their five-game losing streak with a tough win at home against Chaminade University on Thursday night. The Eagles came out strong by taking the lead at the beginning and held it throughout the first half. In the second half, the Eagles and Chaminade exchanged the lead several times until Biola came out on top with a final score of 66-63.
The Eagles took off quickly, opening up a five-point lead at the start of the game and held on to the lead throughout the first quarter. The Eagles scored eight points in the paint but also turned the ball over six times. The quarter ended with the Eagles up 15-9.
In the second quarter, Chaminade worked to catch up to the Eagles by limiting them to just 12 points and only six in the paint. The Eagles continued to lead into halftime by a score of 27-23.
The third quarter proved rocky for the Eagles, with Chaminade rallying to tie at three different points in the quarter. The Eagles got 10 points in the paint, and Biola ended the quarter with junior guard Tatum Brimley making a 3-point shot at the end of the quarter to tie the game 43-43.
In the fourth quarter, the Eagles tied the game twice again and scored their highest amount of points in a quarter during the game with 23 points. In the last three seconds, Chaminade looked to make one final push by making a 3-point shot to move the score to 64-63, but Biola pulled ahead shortly after as Brimley posted two free throws and helped Biola finish on top by a score of 66-63.
Sophomore forward Jazz Benn led the Eagles with 15 points.
“Honestly, every time it’s like a tied game like that, you have to stay poised, be a leader on the court and hold the team together,” Benn said.
Overall, all the Eagles shined throughout the contest. The Eagles got 23 points from the bench and 34 points in the paint. Junior forward Mikayla Greens grabbed 11 rebounds, and junior guard Brenna Khaw made three assists.
“When you play a tough athletic team like Chaminade, they are always gonna make a run sometime in the second half,” said head coach Alan Nakamura. “It was wonderful to see a strong unified effort from start to finish tonight and that’s the key to beating tough teams like Chaminade.”
The win moved the Eagles to 8-11 in the PacWest conference and 10-15 overall. They will continue play at home against Hawaii Pacific University on Saturday at 5:30 p.m.