Box Score LA MIRADA, Calif. --- There is at least one aspect of basketball strategy that is pretty straightforward: when you have a hot shooter on the floor, keep feeding them the ball. Biola followed that axiom and stuck with what worked on Saturday, riding Annie Park's 30 points and DeMoria White's 26 to a 89-62 win over Embry Riddle.Â
"Tonight Annie and DeMoria's holistic leadership obviously made its mark tonight in the points column," said Head Coach
Alan Nakamura. "But they did not do it by themselves; their performances are reflections of good teamwork and good preparation from everyone on the floor tonight."
Park and White combined for 15 of the Eagles 16 made threes on the afternoon, with Park making 9 shots from distance and converting an old fashioned three point play to amass her scoring total and grab two personal records.
Park now holds the program records for best three point shooting percentage in one game (.692 on 9-of-13 shooting) and ties the mark set by Rachel Dulin nine years ago for most made shots from distance in a single game. Dulin made nine three pointers against Azusa Pacific on Feb. 26, 2007.
Additionally, the Eagles set a new team record for most three points shots made in a game with the aforementioned total of 16.
Biola starting backcourt of Park and White was so good on Wednesday that their combined point total of 56 was tied with their opponents total score when the backcourt tandem was removed from the game with just over five minutes left to play.
After finishing the first period with a slim 16-14 lead, things really got cooking for Biola in the second quarter. Starting at the 6:44 mark in the second, Park went 4-for-4 from deep, pushing Biola's lead from 10 points to 20 over that span and beginning a blistering run for the Torrance, CA native where she made 21 straight points without missing a shot.
As play shifted to the fourth quarter, White decided it was time to take advantage of the way her opponents were over-defending Park. The junior ball handler was all but unstoppable in the early minutes of the final period, going 4-of-5 from the field with a trio of three pointers and an and-one of her own. She scored 12 points in a 2 minute, 40 second span and nearly doubled her point total in the process from 14 to 26.
Joclyn Kirton also made her presence felt inside the key for the Eagles, scoring in double figures for the fifth straight game and. The senior forward finished with 13 points and seven assists on 5-of-9 shooting, helping Biola to an eight point advantage over Embry-Riddle in points in the paint.
Embry-Riddle did most of their damage with jumpers anyway. Guards Danae Ruiz and Emma Knudson scored 21 and 15 points, respectively, to help propel their team to 40 points in the second half. Embry-Riddle is the first team Biola has played all season that has scored at least 20 points in two periods during a single game.
With the win, Biola improves to 5-2 and enters Thanksgiving Break on a high note. Biola' has a stretch of three road games over the next two weeks, facing two future PacWest conference opponents in Azusa Pacific and Concordia-Irvine. The first test will be against Concordia-Irvine on Tuesday Nov. 29 at 5:30 p.m.