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.