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The Official Athletic Site of the Biola University Eagles

Scoreboard

Jelissa Puckett dribbling a basketball
Kaiber Takamiya
53
Biola University BU-WBB 0-1
60
Winner Cal State LA CSLA 1-0
Biola University BU-WBB
0-1
53
Final
60
Cal State LA CSLA
1-0
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Biola University BU-WBB 7 10 19 17 53
Cal State LA CSLA 18 13 13 16 60

Game Recap: Women's Basketball | | Brandon Taylor, Assistant Sports Information Director

Cal State LA Holds On

Biola closed an early gap with a few big scoring streaks in the second half, but lost its season opener, 60-53.

CARSON, Calif. --- It took some time for Head Coach Alan Nakamura's team to get warmed up on Friday night, but the Biola Eagles became dangerous when they finally got into the flow of their system and produced a lot to be optimistic about in their season opener.

The Eagles began their season at the PacWest/CCAA Challenge with Friday's matchup against Cal State LA at the Torodome in Carson and erased a 13-point halftime deficit midway through the fourth quarter before losing to CSULA, 60-53.

Biola fell behind relatively early with only seven points in the first quarter and a 19 percent clip from the floor in the first half. Danita Estorga had a team-high nine points in the first 20 minutes of an anticipated beginning to her Biola career. But four Golden Eagles scored five points or more over that same span to give the CCAA team a 14-point lead headed into the halftime break.

But Biola surged out of the 15-minute respite as Jazz Benn and Kayla Macedo provided Estorga with some much needed assistance in the scoring department. The Eagles drained four three-pointers in the third quarter while Macedo scored seven points in four minutes during the latter part of the quarter to bring the deficit to five with about a minute left.

Then Biola made it a one-point game with just under seven minutes left in the fourth period after starting the quarter down eight thanks to big threes and clutch free throws by Benn and Estorga. But Cal State LA would not let the game stay as close as 46-45 for very long and widened the gap to seven points at the 3:48 mark with a three from Christine Delapina. The Eagles got within five point over the closing minutes but couldn't come up with the breaks they needed to swing the quick upset.

And yet, Biola comes away from the game with building blocks going into tomorrow night's game against Dominguez Hills, and into the season going forward, with the success it's offense achieved in the second half. The Eagles had three double-figure scorers at the final buzzer: Estorga with 15, Benn with 14 and 11 second-half points, and Macedo with all 13 of her points in the second-half on 3-of-3 shooting while going 6-for-7 at the charity stripe.

The Eagles also increased their shooting percentage by 20 points in the second half, sunk 47 percent of their threes, and had a massive 35 points off the bench on Friday. It may just take some tweaking and experimenting for Biola. But the Eagles have the game they need to be competitive game-in and game-out this year and have a chance to try to put it all together immediately when they travel back to the Torodome on Saturday.

The matchup with Cal State Dominguez Hills is scheduled for a 6 p.m. tip-off.  
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