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Scoreboard

Mike Simonson happy
Charlie Bailey
59
CUI CUI 1-7,0-1 PacWest
65
Winner Biola BIO 1-7,1-0 PacWest
CUI CUI
1-7,0-1 PacWest
59
Final
65
Biola BIO
1-7,1-0 PacWest
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
CUI CUI 20 9 16 14 59
Biola BIO 15 15 18 17 65

Game Recap: Women's Basketball |

We're 1-0!

Biola snaps its skid, earns coach Simonson's first win in the PacWest opener vs. Concordia.

LA MIRADA, Calif. — It all starts now. 

For Head Coach Mike Simonson, all that matters is that following its conference-opening win on Wednesday night, the Biola Women's Basketball team stands at 1-0. 

"It feels good. Our team has been improving every single game," said Simonson. "I told our team we were the best winless team in the country coming into tonight. I am so proud of how we executed down the stretch. You wouldn't think it's our first win by the way we executed to win that game."

After sitting at 0-7 following a challenging preseason slate, this Eagles team earned a fresh start as it began PacWest Conference play. The Eagles seized that opportunity, using a productive second-quarter and fourth-quarter execution to key their first victory of the 2024-25 season and coach Simonson's first win as head coach of the Eagles.. Biola topped its local foe Concordia University Irvine, with stingy defense leading to a 65-59 success.

"One of my mentors, Tony Bennett, when I was at Washington State, said you know you have a good ball club when you have a team that you can lose with," said Simonson. "That was this group. Every day we've worked hard and gotten better. From every loss, we've learned a lesson."

Biola scored the first four points of the game, but then the visiting Concordia Golden Eagles got off to a hot start inside of Chase Gymnasium with a strong offensive first period. The CUI side had its highest-scoring quarter of the whole night in that first period, putting 20 points on the board. 

The Golden Eagles held a five-point advantage at the end of the first, but Biola managed to erase that lead completely in the second frame, outscoring the visitors 15-9 to take a 30-29 halftime lead.

Similar to Biola scoring first in the first period before falling behind, CUI scored the first three points of the second period to push their lead to eight before Biola finished the frame on a 15-6 run. Seven different Eagles scored points to contribute to the second-quarter surge. A layup by Sydney Moran with 41 ticks until halftime was what put BU up on top heading into the break.

To open the third period, the Eagles got a trio of Laila Walker three-balls to fall to help hold CUI at arm's length. She would get the BU lead out to five on multiple occasions to provide breathing room in the third period. Walker finished the game with 14 points on 50 percent shooting overall and 60 percent from deep.

Concordia made a late push in the third, using a bucket from Izzy Navarro to take the lead back with just over a minute left. But, Jaycee Goldsmith earned a trip to the free-throw line at the buzzer in the third with an attempt from beyond the arc. She drained all three free throws to send BU to the fourth period up 48-45.

Coach Simonson's Eagles were 8-for-9 from the free throw line on the night, helping aid the late-game execution. 

The Eagles' lead held through the entire fourth period, aided by a nine-point run that expanded the advantage from 48-47 to 57-47. Four of those nine points came from Jessa Thurman, who was the team's leading scorer in the game with 20 points on 10-for-13 shooting.

"She [Jessa] was a big part of our game plan," said Simonson. "We knew they were going to switch a lot of screens and she would have mismatches. I was really pleased not just with her finishing, she does that well every day. Our passing to get her the ball was the best it's ever been."

Biola finished with 20 assists to just 13 turnovers, which is its best positive ratio of the season.

The win helps Biola improve to 5-3 all-time in PacWest Conference openers since moving to the conference in 2017-18. This is the second time in the past three seasons that BU opened with a win following a winless non-conference slate.

Up next for the Eagles is a bit of an extended road stretch. They begin their run of three straight games away from home with a December 7 matchup at Fresno Pacific.
 
Gallery: (12-4-2024) 12.4 WBB vs CUI
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