Women’s basketball: The streak is over
Joseph Boo
COSTA MESA - It was inevitable. At the same time, it was shocking.
After two years, 11 months and 46 wins at the Pit, Vanguard University’s
women’s basketball team finally lost at home on Saturday. The
streak-buster was Golden State Athletic Conference foe Biola, who came in
and shot 53% to pull off the magnanimous 91-76 upset of NAIA Division I’s
No. 10 team.
“To tell you the truth,” Vanguard Coach Russ Davis said, “we don’t really
care about the streak. We’ll just have to try to start another one with
our next game.”
“That’s probably the best they played all season long. My hat goes off to
Biola. They didn’t come out intimidated by our home court.”
The last team to defeat Vanguard at home was Pt. Loma Nazarene on Feb.
25, 1997, and it took an 85-84 overtime win to knock off the Lions.
Of all the teams that marched into Vanguard’s Pit since then as the
hopeful spoiler, Biola was an unlikely candidate to win, especially by 15
points. The Eagles had a 5-12 record coming in. With a 3-3 conference
record, Biola (6-12, 4-3 in conference) needed a win to have stay afloat
in the race.
But Biola’s Eagles came out smoking, shooting 53% in the first half and
hitting 6-of-14 three-pointers. That’s actually worse then the second
half, where Biola shot 57% from the field.
Vanguard (16-4, 5-2) led for the only time at 5-4, 3:15 into the game.
Then an 18-6 Biola run doubled its lead to 22-11, and the margin stayed
constant the rest of the way.
“You can’t give up 91 points and win,” Davis said.
Biola picked holes in Vanguard’s defense the entire game, finding open
shots plentiful. The Eagles started the second half hitting their first
six field shots, including a three-pointer and a three-point play. That
coincided with Vanguard’s best offensive run, a 16-point outburst in six
minutes, but the Lions only shaved two points off a 44-31 Biola halftime lead.
“We didn’t play any defense,” Davis said, “and that was disappointing. We
scored 79 points, which is usually enough to win. But we gave up 91.”
After a poor first half, the Lions’ offense scored consistently, largely
through the efforts of Becki Huddle and Kelly Boeke. Huddle scored 12 of
her 17 points in the second half. Boeke had a team-high 19 points.
The closest Vanguard came to Biola was 70-63, with 7:14 left, when Huddle
got a rebound and a layup. But Biola then scored five straight points to
get the lead back into double digits.
Beth Wiedler and Deborah Candelaria were the only other Lions to break
double digits in scoring. Weidler had 10, and Candelaria scored 11, along
with 12 rebounds. Vanguard only shot 5-for-27 from three-point range.
Heather Doud led Biola’s offensive juggernaut with 31 points. Heidi
Harderman was the Eagles’ sharp-shooter, hitting 4-of-6 three-pointers.
GOLDEN STATE ATHLETIC CONFERENCE
Biola 91, Vanguard 79
Biola - Doud 31, Arnold 19, Harderman 18, Montavon 12, Andreasen 8, Harbour 3.
3-pt. goals - Harderman 4, Arnold 2, Doud 1, Montovan 1.
Fouled out - Harbour.
Technicals - None.
Vanguard - Boeke 19, Huddle 17, Candelaria 11, Weidler 10, Emde 8, Lee 7,
Lenderman 2, Axelson 2.
3-pt. goals - Emde 2, Weidler 1, Huddle 1, Lee 1.
Fouled out - Huddle.
Technicals - None.
Halftime - 44-31, Biola.
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