IRVINE, Calif. --- It was a tough, emotional night for both teams on Friday night at the Concordia Arena, a night in which Biola's 63-52 win over Concordia seemed to be an after thought.
Concordia was playing in its first game since the death of freshman Paige Armstong-Maltos, who lost her life in a car accident early Sunday morning. Concordia postponed Tuesday game at Point Loma Nazarene and moved Saturday's game against Biola up to Friday to accommodate a planned funeral service in Fresno on Saturday morning.
After a moving ceremony which featured a standing ovation to celebrate her life, both teams took the court, albeit with basketball secondary on their minds.
Biola (14-3, 6-2 GSAC) was led by senior forward Jessilyn conicelli, who scored 28 points and added 16 rebounds for her 11th double-double of the season and fifth in her last six games.
Concordia (9-4, 4-3 GSAC) received a team-high 18 points from Nicole Fu.
Biola got off to a quick start in the contest, breaking open a one-point game with an 13-2 run to take a 24-12 lead just over 14 minutes in. Biola would lead by as many as 13 in the opening half and took a 31-20 lead to the locker room.
In the second half, Biola took its largest lead of the game at 39-25 on a layup by Conicelli with 14:33 to play. However, the vistors would go quiet for a while as Concordia used a 12-0 run to cut the lead to two at 39-37 with 10:55 left in the contest.
Conicelli snapped the run with a jumper and Biola would withstand the storm for a few more minutes until using a quick five put run to begin to pull away. Senior forward Jennifer French would hit a three-pointer with 3:06 to play, then recorded a clutch layup at the 1:11 mark to seal the deal.
French finished with nine points as did Emily Drews, with each recording six rebounds. Charrise Reece and Christina Barclay contributed eight points each for Biola.
Biola returns to action on Tuesday (January 18), hosting Hope International University in a GSAC contest at Chase Gymnasium. Tip-off is slated for 5:30 p.m.
