AZUSA, Calif. --- Biola Women's Basketball will play its first PacWest Tournament on Thursday since the Eagles joined the conference three years ago. Head Coach Alan Nakamura's group posted a 14-8 PacWest tournament to qualify for the tournament in their first year of eligibility and earned the No. 5 seed to take on No. 4 Point Loma in the first round. 

Thursday's game is scheduled for a 2:45 p.m. tip-off and will be held at the Felix Event Center in Azusa. General admission for the tournament is $12 and pre-sale tickets are available for purchase online, for both general admission single tickets and all-tournament passes. Fans can purchase tickets online if they wish and print them at home to present at the door. 

Student tickets are available for $5, cash only at the door. Children 12 and under receive free admission.

The matchup with the Sea Lions should make for a great game since Biola's history with Point Loma has been very back-and-forth in recent years. The teams split the regular season series this year after each side earned a season-sweep over the other during the previous two campaigns.

One might remember that the Eagles' victory over the Sea Lions this year was perhaps the signature win of the regular season for Biola Women's Basketball. Paced by 5-for-8 shooting from beyond the arc, Nakamura's group scored 32 unanswered points against Point Loma between the end of the first quarter and the second quarter. The Sea Lions might not have scored in the second quarter at all if not for a transition three-pointer in the closing seconds of the first half. And recently named PacWest Freshman of the Year Stephanie Lee scored 15 first half points on the way to a career-high 26. 

PLNU made that game more tense down the stretch with big production from Cara Liggins, Onjalise Carley-Hilliard and Isabel Turk in the second half. But Tatum Brimley was clutch with 16 second-half points and went 6-of-8 at the charity stripe as Biola made 15 free throws to hold off the Sea Lions' late surge. All-PacWest forward Jazz Benn was also a crucial ballast for the Eagles in the win, playing 39 minutes and scoring 15 points to go with nine rebounds. 

One of the key differences between that signature win and the Eagles' 68-63 loss in San Diego earlier in the season was Biola's three-point shooting. The Eagles actually made fewer field goals in their 81-73 win, but made 13 three-pointers in that game compared to six threes in the loss. The additional shots from beyond the arc not only gave the Eagles a few extra points on made baskets, it forced Point Loma to expand its defense from around the key and eventually led to more free throws for Biola when they broke through the defense on drives to the hoop. 

Biola Women's Basketball made 20 free throws in the win compared to seven in the loss.

Both teams went 1-3 against the other teams that qualified for the PacWest Tournament since Biola and PLNU last met on January 29. Brimley, Benn and Lee are all averaging over 10 points per game in the eight games since while Liggins, Carley-Hilliard and Hailee Saurette are accomplishing the same for the Sea Lions. Both teams are shooting over 38 percent from the field and 31 percent from beyond the arc.

And both teams, of course, had two women recognized as All-PacWest players on Wednesday. Cara Liggins was a second team guard and Onjalise Carley-Hilliard was a third-team forward for Point Loma. Stephanie Lee was named the conference's Freshman of the Year for Biola while Benn was named to the All-PacWest third team, earning all-conference honors for the second-straight season. 

Liggins averaged 19 points per game against Biola this season while Carley-Hilliard posted 16 per contest. Benn posted 12.5 ppg while Lee and Tatum Brimley averaged 14 and 14.5 points per game, respectively in the games against Point Loma. 

A win for Biola would advance them to a semifinal meeting with the No. 1 seed Hawaii Pacific on Friday at 2:45 p.m. 

It should be a compelling ballgame on Thursday. Tip-off is scheduled for 2:45 p.m. PT, following the other first round game between Fresno Pacific and Concordia. The game will be streamed live at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/pacwest/. Complimentary live stats will also be published at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/pacwest/.