Box Score LA MIRADA, Calif. --- For the first possession, the Eagles looked like themselves. After winning the tip, Annie Park brought the ball up as the team ran through their action to get Elizabeth Munger a postup, and Munger made a great spin move once getting the ball. Then, for the next 35 minutes of play, the team's play was mostly unrecognizable as it lost 62-46 to No. 4 Westminster.
 
Munger failed to convert that first spin move and Westminster went on to rip off a 10-0 run in just three and a half minutes. The Griffins went right at Biola's forwards, scoring over Biola's bigs with ease and bludgeoning them, legally, out of Biola's regular, comfortable offensive positions. Westminster would end with 24 points in the paint, but the early dominance inside quickly opened up their shooters, who were incredibly hot through the first half. Attacking Biola's forwards forced the Eagles to rotate over and be out of position on the glass. Westminster grabbed eight offensive rebounds in the first half alone. Even more impressive, the Griffins had just 12 misses in the first half to collect those eight offensive rebounds, four by Amanda Hacking alone.
 
"They definitely played a very physical game, and we came out and didn't respond soon enough to that," said Head Coach Dr. Bethany Miller. "You can tell on the offensive boards…We need to be able to come out stronger, more focused and be ready to play right from tipoff."
 
Westminster held the Eagles to 32 percent from the field, andits physicality played a large part in that. Biola didn't help itself either, missing open shot after open shot to go just 5-of-24 from distance, with the sharpshooting duo of Aubree Mittel and Amanda Darouie combining to go 0-8 from beyond the arc. For the season, the two shoot 33.8 percent on threes, so add two or three makes instead of misses, and the Eagles still lose this game because Westminster was just that much better.
 
"We need to be able to steup up and knock down open shots. We got plenty of open looks tonight, and we didn't take advantage of them," said Miller. "Offensively, we weren't moving the ball well enough. We had good ball control, but we weren't moving the ball enough. Seven assists for the game is uncharacteristic for us and we didn't capitalize and make reads on what Westminster was giving us."
 
Park was forced to shoulder a greater offensive burden with the forwards being neutralized. She attempted a well above-average 13 shots and converted for a season-high 13 points. However, the offense having to come from Park limited the ball movement Miller expects. Biola will need to find a way to keep their posts involved when teams attempt to copy Westminster's physical game plan.
 
"We hope to learn a lot from this game in being able to come out strong and being able to meet the level of intensity and meet the challenge," said Miller. "We need to have the team step up, players step up and match physicality with physicality."
 
The Eagles have a quick turnaround, facing Bethesda on Monday night at Chase Gymnasium.