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Jazz Benn releasing basketball
Christina Leung - Sports Shooter Academy
65
Biola University BU-WBB 19-11,14-8 PacWe
68
Winner Hawaii Pacific HPU-WBB 28-1,22-0 PacWes
Biola University BU-WBB
19-11,14-8 PacWe
65
Final
68
Hawaii Pacific HPU-WBB
28-1,22-0 PacWes
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Biola University BU-WBB 12 19 14 20 65
Hawaii Pacific HPU-WBB 12 14 21 21 68

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

Run Ends In Semifinals

Biola Women’s Basketball nearly came back to upset No. 3 Hawaii Pacific, but concludes its season with a 68-65 loss.


AZUSA, Calif. --- There was no let down for Biola Women's Basketball in Friday's PacWest Tournament semifinals after the Eagles won the first conference postseason game since Biola University became a full NCAA Member.

Head Coach Alan Nakamura's group nearly came up with a momentous upset in the semifinal against Hawaii Pacific, the No. 3 team in the nation for NCAA DII Women's Basketball, and had the last possession of regulation with a chance to tie the game. But the Sharks kept the Eagles from getting an open look and escaped the semifinal with a 68-65 win.

"After the challenging game that went down to the wire yesterday, I was a bit concerned about our ability to bounce back and have our usual fight and energy/. But the players really showed their character, their togetherness and their devotion to each other by how they competed right from the start against obviously one of the best teams in the country," said Head Coach Alan Nakamura. "I'm really thankful for our team, really proud of them, and they're a wonderful group of young women. It's been a blessing for sure to be part of this team."

Outside of a two-point loss early in the season, the Sharks haven't played any closer games this season than this semifinal and the narrow 58-57 win over Biola. Hawaii Pacific average margin of victory during conference play was 23 points per contest. But Biola played the Sharks within an average of 5.3 points as the caught the conference's attention during the teams' three meetings this season. 

And there was not really ever a point in Friday's playoff where Hawaii Pacific seemed to outmatch Biola. The Eagles held the Sharks to 4-of-15 shooting in the first quarter and were tied at 12-12 after 10 minutes after Danita Estorga made a late layup. 
 
Then Jazz Benn caught fire in the second quarter with 10 points to help Biola carry a 31-26 lead into halftime. The All-PacWest forward would score a game-high 14 first-half points and finish the contest with her third 20-point game of the season. 
Estorga added six points on 2-for-3 shooting and five rebounds in the first half while Aysia Johnson pulled down eight of her career-high 13 rebounds over the first two quarters. In the meantime, Biola Women's Basketball held PacWest Player of the Year Amy Baum to two points in the first half and prevented Baum from making a field goal. 

Additionally, the rest of Hawaii Pacific's starting five recorded just six points as the Eagles a team that averages a conference best 84.7 points per game to 26 going into the break. 

The Sharks came out of halftime on an 8-0 run to close Biola's lead. But Biola took the lead back with a Tatum Brimley three-pointer four minutes into the third quarter and buckled down for a back-and-forth game the rest of the way. 

Benn went on a 5-to-2 run all by herself midway through the quarter to give Biola a two-point lead. Then Brimley made a nice drive and layup to the basket in the closing seconds to bring the Eagles within two points of the tournament's No. 1 seed going into the final 10 minutes.

For a while there in the fourth it seemed the end-of-game narrative was going to be Biola's difficulty making threes in the last quarter. The Eagles floated around a two to three-point deficit for the first five-plus minutes because of free throws from Estorga and Brimley and back-to-back layups from the Phoenix, Arizona-native 

But Hawaii Pacific eventually built a 10-point lead with two minutes to go after Biola missed its first 13 attempts from beyond the arc in the fourth. That is, until Brimley and her teammates pulled together to earn that final chance at tying the score.

Brimley made three-consecutive three-pointers in a one minute, nine second-span to pull Biola within three points with 40 seconds left. She would finish the game with a new scoring career-high of 24 points after dropping 15 in the fourth quarter alone and surpassed Charrise Reece on Biola Women's Basketball all-time scoring list to rest at 23rd place. 
 
The Eagles got a big stop following Brimley's third three to give them a chance with 15 seconds left in regulation. Senior guard Jelissa Puckett, who played a team-high 33 minutes in the contest, drew an offensive foul while fighting over a screen to send the teams back the other way. 

Biola finishes the season with a 19-11 record and the pride of having delivered a very impressive showing in the program's first PacWest tournament. This was certainly a team that worked hard and played for each other, and it was a lot of fun to watch. 
 
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