SAN DIEGO, Calif. --- The Biola women's basketball team (14-7,10-4 PacWest) collected a clutch win over Point Loma (13-11, 8-9 PacWest) in San Diego on Wednesday evening. The Eagles set a new season-high with 19 steals in a 53-35 victory. 

Biola blitzed the home team throughout the matchup with a strong defensive effort. The Eagles forced 24 PLNU turnovers and created 24 points off of those giveaways. The Eagles limited the Sea Lions to just a 12.5 three-point field goal percentage and a 30.0 field goal percentage throughout the contest.

Jordan Rabe came up just shy of a double-double, scoring 17 points, while leading her team with nine rebounds. "We worked hard for the win. We knew what we needed to do differently, especially coming off a tough loss from this past weekend and we used it to our benefit to fire us up," mentioned Rabe. 

The Eagles weren't messing around in Golden Gymnasium as they took off right from the jump, setting the tone for the game. Amiah Simmons put three points on the board with an assist from Laila Walker to kick off the game. Playing hard on both sides of the court, Rabe's inside game was on fire, tallying three layups in a short span. Stephanie Lee capped off the first quarter with her famous three-pointer, giving BU a 17-12 advantage. 

The defense was at its finest in the second quarter, holding PLNU to two points. The lead grew for the Eagles with long scoring runs, boosting the advantage to 34-14 entering the half. 

Going into the third stanza the Sea Lions tried to chip away at the gap. PLNU put up 19 points in the period and recovered eight points from its 20-point deficit but it was not enough. 

The Eagles refocused on defense as the game transitioned into the final stanza and Point Loma had no answers. Once again, the hosting Sea Lions could not buy a bucket as they turned in another two-point effort on offense. The Eagles flew by in the final 10 minutes, securing the 52-35 win. 

Simmons led the charge for the Eagles with 18 points, five rebounds, one steal and one assist. She was efficient shooting the ball, going two-for-five on three's to help BU outscore PLNU. 

The Biola women's basketball defense helped both ends of the floor, as the Eagles scored 24 out of their 52 points off of turnovers. "A complete team effort and we knew we had to play together in order to clinch a berth in our conference tournament, and we did just that," said Assistant Coach Gamal Smalley. 

The BU squad is back at home on Saturday, February 19 against rival and PacWest conference champions, Azusa Pacific at 5:30 p.m. at Chase Gymnasium. For live stats links and updates check athletics.biola.edu.