LA MIRADA --- Biola women's basketball started their seven-game home stand with a tough loss of 54-61 against Westcliff University on Tuesday evening at Chase Gymnasium.

Down some of its key players, the Eagles did their best to fight against the Warriors even with a slow start. It was difficult to play catch-up all game, but that didn't stop BU giving all they had until the very end. 

All hands were on deck with Biola scoring a total of 25 points from the bench. BU saw contributions from top-to-bottom on Tuesday.

Jordan Rabe started the game off with a stellar grab against WU to take the ball up the court and get points on the board first with a layup. Shortly thereafter, the Eagles couldn't quite piece it together on offense, falling behind with a total of eight points in the first quarter. Rabe would finish the day with a total of 17 points, leading her team in scoring on Tuesday evening. 

Biola would then only allow their opponent to score 17 points each in the second and third quarter. In the middle of the second quarter, BU continued to grind, holding the Warriors scoreless for three minutes. A jumper from redshirt sophomore Stephanie Lee helped draw Biola within four, 20-24. The end of the half favored Westcliff, who concluded the second with a nine-point advantage.

The Eagles started to come alive in the fourth but it was too late, as the last quarter started they were down by 16 points. Jordan Rabe helped close the gap with a layup 30 seconds in. Both teams continued to chip away by putting points on the board but Biola didn't stop until the final buzzer. A jumper from Lee and a lay up from Rabe cut the team's deficit to nine with four minutes left on the clock. BU took advantage of every chance it could to score, utilizing free throws, WU turnovers and steals but they failed to reach enough points to secure the win. 

It was not the Eagles' strongest game, only making three of their 20 three pointers from their shooting trio of Lee, Amiah Simmons, and Sydney Moran. The team totaled 47 rebounds, went 11-17 on free throws, and posted a field goal percentage of 29.4% on the evening, but Biola looks for another chance, a new opponent.

The Eagles look forward to turning the page from tonight's challenging loss with six straight home conference matches, beginning with Chaminade on Saturday, January 22 at 5:30 p.m. at Chase Gymnasium. For live stats links and updates check athletics.biola.edu.