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Women's Basketball Brandon Taylor, Sports Information Assistant

No. 19 Eagles Edged By No. 21 Mustangs In A Nailbiter

Joclyn Kirton, Annie Park and DeMoria White all reached double-digit points in the loss.

Annie Park reaches double figures for the sixth-straight game in 63-66 loss to TMU.
Box Score SANTA CLARITA, Calif. --- It is not abnormal for any basketball team to fall victim to a trap game after a big win. But after winning against No. 3 Westmont on Tuesday, Saturday's matchup against No. 21 The Master's did not play like a trap game at all: despite making more field goals and nabbing more rebounds, No. 19 Biola could not hold off the Mustangs fourth quarter charge and lost 63-66.

The Eagles are still 11 games over .500 at 17-6 (8-3 GSAC) while The Master's improves to 16-6 and 6-5 in Golden State Athletic Conference play after pulling off a performance that may be its best game of the season.

"The Master's is a top team in the GSAC and NAIA; it has the talent, coaching and toughness to beat anyone," said Head Coach Alan Nakamura. "This is a tough loss for our team, but our takeaway will be the strength our players showed to pull together as a team, compete well and hang in there in a hard-fought game. Our best basketball is ahead of us."

It turned out to be a must-win game for The Master's to stay in the NAIA Coaches' Poll Top-25 and the crowd at Bross Gym willed the Mustangs on with every possession. But by the end of the first quarter the score was 18-18 with Biola shooting above .700 percent from the field for most of the quarter.

The Master's would inch ahead with a two-point lead at halftime thanks to the sharp shooting of guard Hannah Ostrom, who went 4-of-6 from three in the first half for 12 points. Master's would sink six threes as a time compared to the Eagles' two in the first half, but Biola did a great job of silencing Bianca Cubello for the second time against the Mustangs.

Cubello came in averaging 13.6 points-per-game and 8.8 rebounds, but had only two points and one rebound over the first 20 minutes because of Biola's overall coverage of The Master's ball-handlers and shooters.

Joclyn Kirton went 5-of-7 from the field for 11 points over that same span, while Jessica Shill and Kayla Macedo contributed layups of their own to lead Biola's bench production to seven first half points.

The Eagles raced away in the points in the paint category on Saturday by scoring 36 points on layups. That was 20 points more than The Master's scored in the key.

But the Mustangs would outscore the Eagles 32-to-31 in the second half behind four scorers in double figures. Ostrom led all scorers with 18 while Cubello knocked down four free throws to scratch together 10 points.  

The momentum of the game finally swayed in the home team's direction in the fourth quarter with the Mustang's 19 point output. To go along with 6-of-10 shooting, The Master's defense forced a number of key stops down the stretch to hold Biola to .333 from the field in the fourth.

A Tatum Brimley three pointer brought the deficit to one with 14 seconds left, but two free throws from Cubello forced Biola into a rushed three-point attempt that could not tie the score.

After back-to-back matchups with NAIA Top-25 teams, Biola's next test will be a three-day road trip to Northern California beginning on Thursday. The Eagles face the William Jessup Warriors on Feb. 9 at 5:30 p.m.
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Players Mentioned

Joclyn Kirton

#21 Joclyn Kirton

F
6' 0"
Senior
Jessica Shill

#51 Jessica Shill

F
6' 3"
Sophomore
Tatum Brimley

#22 Tatum Brimley

G
5' 5"
Freshman
Kayla Macedo

#4 Kayla Macedo

G
5' 11"
Freshman

Players Mentioned

Joclyn Kirton

#21 Joclyn Kirton

6' 0"
Senior
F
Jessica Shill

#51 Jessica Shill

6' 3"
Sophomore
F
Tatum Brimley

#22 Tatum Brimley

5' 5"
Freshman
G
Kayla Macedo

#4 Kayla Macedo

5' 11"
Freshman
G
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