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Women's Basketball Brandon Taylor, Sports Information Assistant

Eagles Defensive Treatment Overcomes Menlo

The Eagles leveraged 25 points off of turnovers in a 74-57 win over Menlo College.

DeMoria White scored at least 20 points for the third straight game in Biola's 74-57 win over Menlo.
Box Score LA MIRADA, Calif. --- The Menlo Oaks hit the No. 21 Eagles with their best shot in the first quarter on Saturday with 21 points, but Biola consistently chipped away at the Oaks offensive flow over the next three quarters to win 74-57. Limiting the Oaks to no more than 14 points in each of the last three quarters was the difference maker that propelled Biola to win number 15 on the season and a 6-1 Golden State Athletic Conference record.

At 15-4 with 10 regular season games left, the Eagles have surpassed their win total from last season.

"It took a little time for us to figure out our offense since Menlo came out really strong with their shooting," said Assistant Coach Grace Ricafranca. "But then we started to flourish with driving the ball and looking to attack in the paint as the game went on."

Menlo raced out on an 11-2 run after the opening tip and forced the Eagles to scramble to keep up over the next seven plus minutes. Great mid-range shooting from center Aliyah Brantley led the Oaks to 9-of-20 shooting in the first 10 minutes and prevented the Eagles from tieing the score until the waning moment of the period.

A three pointer from DeMoria White with 13 seconds left tied the score at 21.

Although Biola made three fewer field goals in the first period, it made a living at the charity stripe and made sure Menlo did not build momentum. The trio of White, Sara Dougan and Ezekia Johnson shot 7-for-8 from the free throw line in the first ten minutes.

Moreover, the Eagles excelled on Saturday at scoring in the last two minutes of each quarter. During the last two minutes across all four periods, Biola outscored the visitors 18 to 10. The end of the third quarter was particularly important in the final margin of victory for the Eagles: two steals and three unanswered layups in the last 45 seconds doubled Biola's lead to make it a 12 point game headed to the last ten minutes of play.

Biola was also the more efficient scoring team over the entirety of the second half, sinking 17 field goals on .548 shooting compared to Menlo's seven makes on .250 shooting. The Eagles characteristic commitment to hustle on defense held Menlo to 1-of-6 from beyond the arc and just two attempts at threes in the third quarter.

"I thought we did an even better job of closing out on shooters in the second half than in the first," said Ricafranca. "And then we did a good job of boxing out and getting rebounds to finish off our stops."

The third was Biola's best quarter defensively as Menlo scored only nine points during the time the Eagles increased their lead from two to the aforementioned 12 headed into the fourth quarter.

Biola finished the game with four scorers in double digits. Both starting guards scored 20 plus: Annie Park with 20 and White with a game high 21. While both starting posts (Sara Dougan and Joclyn Kirton) both shot above .500 from the field and collected 13 and 12 points, respectively. With 10 more rebounds, Kirton kept her double-double streak alive and extended it to three games.

Guard Celina Pagan was the third leading scorer in the game and paced her team with 17 points and seven rebounds. Brantley had 13 points and eight rebounds for an Oaks team that is now 1-5 in GSAC.

The Eagles hit the road again in their next contest, an NAIA Top-25 matchup at the No. 5 Vanguard Lions at 5:30 p.m. 
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Players Mentioned

Sara Dougan

#33 Sara Dougan

F
6' 4"
Sophomore
Joclyn Kirton

#21 Joclyn Kirton

F
6' 0"
Senior
Annie Park

#1 Annie Park

G
5' 5"
Senior
DeMoria White

#5 DeMoria White

G
5' 4"
Junior
Ezekia Johnson

#12 Ezekia Johnson

G
6' 0"
Freshman

Players Mentioned

Sara Dougan

#33 Sara Dougan

6' 4"
Sophomore
F
Joclyn Kirton

#21 Joclyn Kirton

6' 0"
Senior
F
Annie Park

#1 Annie Park

5' 5"
Senior
G
DeMoria White

#5 DeMoria White

5' 4"
Junior
G
Ezekia Johnson

#12 Ezekia Johnson

6' 0"
Freshman
G
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