LA MIRADA, Calif. — Despite going down by 15 points in the first four minutes, Head Coach Mike Simonson's Biola Women's Basketball team never once quit in a battle with the Dominican Penguins inside of Chase Gym on Thursday night.

The visiting Dominican team took a 17-2 lead by making six of their first seven shots from the field and shock the Eagles right out of the gate. Their shooting effort would cool down, albeit not by much, allowing the game to end up a bit more competitive. Although competitive, Biola was never once able to actually grab the lead in what finished up as a 77-72 loss.

The Penguins outscored Biola 29-14 in the first quarter. The Eagles answered back by besting Dominican 26-13 in the second period, remarkably pulling to within two points when Aliyah Bantolina drained a three just 20 seconds before halftime.

Biola shot 10-for-16 in the second frame, while making four three-pointers and not turning the ball over once. In classic Biola team-first fashion five different players scored at least five points in that second stanza. 

Both teams shot the ball well throughout the game, with Dominican finishing at a 49 percent clip and Biola a 45 percent effort. Biola dominated when it came to perimeter shooting, sinking 11 made threes, but Domincan had the edge in inside scoring and rebounding. 

It's the fifth time this year Biola had 10+ three-point makes. The last came last week when the team also had 11 in its last meeting with Dominican. Grace Moyers went 4-for-8 from beyond the arc and Alyssa Kiubo was 3-for-4 to lead the charge. Moyers (14) and Kubo (15) were two of five Eagles to finish with 10+ points in this one.

Dominican extended its lead by four with a solid third quarter, and held on through a late Biola charge in the fourth. The key to victory for the Penguins was their ability to play disciplined and make much out of Biola fouls. The Penguins were whistled for 10 fouls while Biola drew 23 on the night. Dominican earned 21 of their 77 points at the free-throw line, going 21-for-33 overall. Fouling has been an issue for BU the past two games. The Eagles had 24 called against them in their last outing vs. Menlo.

Hanne Nybo had another consistent outing in helping the Eagles push. She was an efficient 7-for-13 to put up 14 points to go with eight rebounds. She has five double-figure performances in her last six outings. 

The loss drops Biola to 12-12 on the season and 9-10 in PacWest Conference compeition. It was the second win for DU over BU in the last week. The Penguins improved to 13-6 in conference play and have their playoff spot locked in.

Biola now has three regular season contests left and is still in the hunt for the only open PacWest Conference tournament berth. The Eagles' 9-10 record has them two games back from the 11-8 Concordia Golden Eagles. One of Biola's last three matchups is against CUI (Feb. 26). Up next for Biola is a road matchup at Vanguard (19-4, 15-3 PWC) this Saturday.

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