Tournament play for PacWest women’s basketball is quickly approaching, and the team is in close standings to whether or not they qualify. Their current position is seventh in conference, and they need to move to sixth in order to advance to the PacWest Championship.
The 2025-2026 season presented new beginnings to all the players on the women’s basketball team. Going into the season, 10 new players joined the team, six of which were freshmen, and the other four were transfers.
Junior kinesiology major Alyssa Kugo noted how the season looked different than the previous she had played because of the number of new players. Despite that, the team was still able to come together as one and have hope of making it to the conference tournament.
“We’re working towards getting to the conference tournament right now, and a lot of the teams that are already in our conference tournament right now are really seasoned, and they’re older, and they’ve been playing together. So us being really new and fresh and having a lot of new people on the team, I think it’s really good that we’re even trying to get there, and that we’re almost there too,” Kugo said. “So hopefully through these next couple games, we’ll be able to pass that to get into the tournament.”
Senior sociology major Jessa Thurman also noted how she was originally concerned by the new changes, but has seen how well they have been able to come together as a team.
“There was a little bit of concern in the beginning, just because we’re such a young team, and there’s a lot of new people trying to fit into a newer system, but I think we’ve done a really good job at adjusting and being able to play to where everybody’s strengths are shown,” Thurman said.
Highlighting the last few games of the season is the final match of Biola’s long-standing rivalry. Kugo noted how she is especially looking forward to this game against Azusa Pacific University (APU) before they step down a division.
“But I think game wise, I’m looking forward to the APU game,” Kugo said. “Because that’s obviously our rivalry game, and we have senior night coming up for that day too.”
The game against APU will be held in Chase Gymnasium on Saturday, Feb. 28, which will also be a time to honor the seniors on the team. This is their last game before the PacWest Championship, and a great opportunity for students and faculty to show their support to the players.
“I would say, at this point late in the season, it’s most important that we just stick to our identity as a team,” Kugo said. “And I feel like if we truly buy into playing together and just giving our all, and all that we could do is just play our best and just give our best effort. So I think everything else will fall into line after that.”
