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Tatum Brimley shooting layup
Katie Chin - Sports Shooter Academy
78
Winner Biola University BU-WBB 19-10,14-8 PacWe
76
Point Loma PLNU-WBB 18-11,14-8 PacWe
Winner
Biola University BU-WBB
19-10,14-8 PacWe
78
Final
76
Point Loma PLNU-WBB
18-11,14-8 PacWe
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Biola University BU-WBB 21 19 16 22 78
Point Loma PLNU-WBB 15 25 18 18 76

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

Eagles Survive And Advance

Biola Women’s Basketball won its first round game in its first PacWest Tournament. 78-76 over Point Loma.


AZUSA, Calif. --- So this is what playoff NCAA basketball in March feels like: Two teams sticking to solidified game plans and using great performances from their players to wrestle the lead back-and-forth for the entire game. 

Then you could feel the tension in the Felix Event Center ratchet up a notch in the final two minutes as Biola Women's Basketball erased an eight-point deficit that tied the game with 1:25 left on an Aysia Johnson layup. But that's March for you, and Head Coach Alan Nakamura's group handled it like pros to defeat Point Loma 78-76 in the first round of the PacWest Tournament on Wednesday. 

This is Biola University's first postseason win as a full NCAA Member and is the first for Biola Women's Basketball in its first PacWest tournament. The Eagles now advance to the semifinal game, where they'll take on No. 1 seed Hawaii Pacific on Friday at 2:45 p.m. 

"I'm really excited for these ladies and our other seniors," said Head Coach Alan Nakamura. "We didn't get to play in a playoff game the last two years [because of the NCAA transition process]. So it was a really big goal to get that opportunity and that experience for them today and they really embraced the opportunity. They're going to go down in history as the senior class that led us to this first step."

The contest packed in just about everything you could want from a playoff basketball team because of how well both teams played. For it's part, Biola Women's Basketball was shooting the lights out from beyond the arc in the first half because they knew how important the three-ball was the Eagles' victory over Point Loma in January. 

Eleven of the 12 field goals Biola made in the first half came from three-point range, and that ratio would grow to 14 of the Eagles' first 15 made field goals going for three points as the game progressed into the second half. 

"We take a lot of pride in our threes and we just came out here and got it done. I'm really proud of the team," said senior guard Jelissa Puckett in the postgame interview.

The Eagles would tie their season-high in the contest with 17 made three-pointers. 

PacWest Freshman of the Year Stephanie Lee made three treys in the first half to score a team-high 10 points over the first 20 minutes. Senior guard Tatum Brimley added nine and also scored the first two baskets of the game to cross the 1,000-point threshold for her career. Brimley became the 24th player in the history of the Biola Women's Basketball program to reach 1,000 points in an Eagles uniform and will start the PacWest semifinal with 1,006 points.

The trio of Jazz Benn, Danita Estorga and Kayla Macedo also made big contributions to help the Eagles head into halftime tied at 40-40. All three women made two threes, Benn went onto join Brimley, Aysia Johnson and Lee in double figures with 11, and Estorga also played an important role the contest as the forward played in her first game since January 18. 
 
The Santa Maria, California-native made the three in the final minute of the first half to allow Biola to carry a tied score into the break. Then with 3:23 left in the game, Estorga subbed in with her team down by eight and immediately made a layup that started the 11-3 run to tie the game. 

Biola built as much as a five-point lead at the start of the third quarter thanks to back-to-back threes from Johnson that helped the sophomore score 11 second-half points. But Point Loma quickly took the lead back and put the Eagles in desperation mode late in the fourth.

After Estorga's layup, Madi Chang nailed a three-pointer that was followed by a steal and an "and-one" from Johnson that tied the score at 76-76. The Eagles would end up scoring 28 points off turnovers in the contest, 16 more than Point Loma, and had 35 points off the bench.
 
The Eagles got a big rebound and forced an errant pass that went out of bounds over the one minute and 20 seconds after Johnson's bucket. That set the floor for the senior Brimley to be hero that score a last second layup after she drove into the key. 
 
"I just knew it was make the shot or throw the ball away and I didn't want to take that risk on the last possession," said Brimley. "But [beside the layup] our freshmen were making big shots the whole fourth quarter. It was really a whole-team effort. And I'm just thankful we had all the pieces working."

The Eagles' defense then prevented Point Loma from having any open looks over the final five seconds of the game and immediately raced together in celebration of their playoff win.
Biola will return to the Felix Event Center in Azusa on Friday to play the No. 1 seed Hawaii Pacific Sharks at 2:45 p.m. 
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