BOX SCORE

LA JOLLA, Calif. --- A long first-half scoreless drought turned out to be too much for Biola to overcome as the Eagles lost 76-55 to UC San Diego in the first game of the UCSD Triton Classic on Friday night.

Biola drops to 3-5 on the season while the Triton, ranked No. 14 in the latest NCAA Division II rankings, improve to 5-0 overall.

As if battling one of the top teams in NCAA Division II wasn't tough enough, the Eagles were also battling a bit of the flu bug as nearly half of the team was battling the flu in some sort this week.

Leading the way for Biola was sophomore Charrise Reece, who recorded 14 points and added three steals and a pair of rebounds. Junior Jennifer French was the next-highest scorer for the Eagles with nine points and eight rebounds.

Biola struggled from the field, hitting just over 30 percent from the field and connecting on just three of 13 shots from beyond the arc.

"I was disappointed in the way we played tonight," said Biola Head Coach Ken Crawford. "I didn't feel that we came and played with the intensity we are capable of. UCSD is a quality team, very well coached and very disciplined and we didn't respond well."

In the first half, the Eagles got off to a good start, taking an early 11-10 lead just over six minutes in. However, from there Biola fell silent, going the next six minutes without scoring a point as UC San Diego stretched its lead to 12 at 23-11. Biola snapped the drought with a pair of free throws by Becca DeVere, scoring the next 11 points from the charity stripe. The Eagles were unable to record a field goal until Megan Jackson's jumper with 2:15 to go in the half.

When all was said and done the Eagles would hit just 5-of-18 from the field but hung close thanks to converting 17-of-18 from the free throw line.

In the second half, Biola hung with the Tritons for the first 10 minutes, cutting the lead to 10 on a three-pointer by Reece with 9:50 to go. The triple made it 55-45, but UC San Diego went on a 17-3 run over the next seven minutes to pull away and cruise to the victory.

Junior Jessilyn Conicelli was one of the hardest hit by the flu bug, and had just four points in the game, all from the free throw line. It was the lowest output in nearly two seasons for the junior.

UC San Diego was led by Chelsea Carlisle, who scored 16 points. Daisy Feder added 14 points while Annette Ilg added 11 points.

Biola closes out the classic on Saturday (Dec. 19), facing another NCAA Division II foe in Cal State San Bernardino at 5:00 p.m.