LA MIRADA, Calif. --- No. 8 Biola saw its 12-point lead with seven minutes left vanish quickly, but still managed to hold off a furious late charge by Concordia to win 65-60 in a GSAC contest on Saturday night at Chase Gymnasium.
Biola picks up its fifth-straight win and improves to 23-5 on the season, matching its best win total since 1984-85, and stays tied for second in the conference at 14-4. Concordia drops to 14-10 and to 9-9 in the GSAC.
Charrise Reece had a monster game for Biola, recording season-highs with 18 points and seven rebounds.
Christina Barclay and
Jessilyn Conicelli each recorded double-doubles in the contest. Barclay had 13 points, 11 rebounds and also blocked six shots in the contest. Conicelli earned her 12th-straight double-double by finishing with 12 points and 11 boards.
Biola played a solid first half, opening up its largest lead of the game at 25-10 on a three-pointer by
Emily Drews with 9:21 left in the period. From there Concordia stayed close, pulling to within eight on a pair of occasions and trailed by nine at the half.
In the second half, the story remained the same with Biola holding a double-digit lead for much of the half. However, the home side could not pull further ahead than 13 as Concordia kept chipping away.
With 6:53 remaining, Drews hit a running layup in the lane to put Biola up 57-45. That would prove to be the final field goal for Biola, though, and Concordia took full advantage. Over the next six minutes, Concordia closed to gap, pulling to within three on a bucket by Cheyenne Wallace with 1:27 to go, then making it a one-point game at 61-60 on a second-chance basket by Camesha Patton.
Concordia then put Biola on the line with Conicelli heading to the charity stripe with 24 seconds left. After making the first, she missed the second. However, Reece flew into the mix and pulled down the rebound. She was quickly fouled and also made one of two free throws to make it a 63-60 game with 21 seconds on the clock.
Concordia came out of the timeout, running a play which led to its star player Nicole Fu working to get a wide-open look at a three with six seconds left. However, her shot missed off the back iron and the rebound was secured by Reece. She would hit both free throws after being fouled to ice the game.
Fu had a solid night for Concordia, scoring a game-high 21 points, adding seven rebounds, four assists a block and a steal. Patton scored 16 points and had 11 rebounds off the bench for Concordia in just 23 minutes on the court.
After shooting 53.3 percent in the first half, Biola managed to hit just 25 percent in the second, scoring 14 of its 29 points from the free throw line. Biola barely outshot Concordia 39.7 percent to 36.5 percent when all was said and done.
Turnovers also plagued Biola as 15 miscues led to 14 points by Concordia.
Biola begins the final week of the regular season with a trip to Fullerton to face Hope International University on Tuesday, then returning home for Senior Night on Thursday against Point Loma Nazarene University. Both games tip-off at 5:30 p.m.
