Box Score LA MIRADA, Calif. --- It's not every day that you come across a collegiate women's basketball box score that has two teams in the 90s. In fact, Biola Women's Basketball has not played a game where both teams got to 90 in regulation since Dec. 29, 2012, which was 91 games ago.
 
On Wednesday night the net got a bit of a workout as both teams were making shot after shot as Biola worked its way to a 95-91 victory over the visiting Bethesda Flames. The victory brings the season-series even at 1-1 and avenges a season-opening 31-point loss at the hands of the Flames.
 
Biola improves to 7-3 with the victory and drops Bethesda down to 6-5 as the team continues to struggle despite its hot start.
 
"It was exciting to see the team experience the benefit of all the hard work they put in on their own, outside of practice," said Head Coach Alan Nakamura. "The assistant coaches and players are very humble, and as a result they work together very well."
 
The first five minutes and last five minutes of this game were what was most critical for this Biola team. Everything that could go right did go right during those two stretches of time, which helped the team to its slim margin of victory.
 
No one in the gym would've thought this game would have ended so close if they just watched the first few minutes as Biola sped out to its fastest start of the season by making 75 percent of its shots early on in the first quarter. The Eagles scored the first 13 points of the game as they climbed out to a double-digit lead within the first two minutes and 12 seconds.
 
Eight of those first 13 points came from DeMoria White, who ended with a team-high 27 on the night. Her biggest area of impact on the evening came from the free throw line. Her 10-of-12 shooting from the stripe helped Biola as it shot 83.9 percent as a team on free throws. It scored 11 more points from the line than Bethesda did in just a handful more chances.
 
The Flames did well to close the early gap with some late three-point makes to tighten the game to 29-21 through the first quarter of play. Yes, 50 points were scored in 10 minutes.
 
Jonalynn Fuertes was Bethesda Head Coach Jason Pruitt's go-to from start-to-finish in this matchup as the senior guard ended with 37 points on 12-of-20 shooting. She played only 13 minutes and scored zero points against Biola in the season-opening win.
 
Biola took a 10-point lead into the halftime break, but Bethesda successfully outscored the Eagles in both quarters in the second half to bring the game to its close four-point finish.
 
The final minute and a half of this game was about as unexciting of an exciting finish you could possibly have as a bunch of late fouls by Bethesda essentially handed the Eagles the win on a silver platter.
 
White hit a big layup to tie the game at 88 all right after Fuertes hit a layup of her own on the other end. After that score with exactly a minute remaining Biola would score each of its remaining seven points from the free throw line. BUC fouled five times in that remaining minute, while the Eagles limited themselves to just one foul.
 
Among those five fouls from Bethesda was Fuertes' fifth foul of the night, which resulted in her fouling out of the game and not being an option for any game-tying or game-winning shots down the stretch.
 
Taylor Casey's efficient work from the floor and strong rebounding helped the Eagles escape with the win. The senior forward set a new season-high for scoring with 20 points and pulled down seven rebounds.
 
"Taylor has been out there working on her own on layups, moves and three-point shooting," said Nakamura. "It paid off as tonight she made 8-of-10, including 2-for-2 on threes and 2-for-2 on free throws."
 
Aubree Mittel also had a fantastic outing as she posted nine points, eight rebounds and a handful of steals. Danielle Kennedy and Emma Newman both got into double-digit scoring with 13 and 12, respectively.
 
One of the most interesting moments of the night was on one run down the court that saw Bethesda miss five shots and pull down five offensive rebounds before Sara Dougan was able to sneak in there and steal a defensive board.
 
Knowing it was not going to be able to keep up with Bethesda's 16 makes from three-point distance Biola played smart basketball by feeding the ball inside for much of the night, which resulted in a 38-24 advantage in points in the paint.
 
"I really appreciate the amount of ownership the players take in the program," said Nakamura. "A lot of our strategies come from their input."
 
The Eagles are back to Golden State Athletic Conference play this Saturday afternoon as they host Arizona Christian at 2:00 p.m.