Women’s Basketball: Lions throttle Biola
Vanguard University women’s basketball coach Russ Davis followed his team’s most impressive four quarters of the season with four ominous words.
“We figured it out,” Davis said after the No. 5-ranked Lions trounced visiting No. 21-ranked Biola, 71-35, in a Golden State Athletic Conference game Tuesday at The Pit.
It was the 15th straight win for Vanguard (19-1, 7-0 in conference), which had “struggled” recently, winning in overtime at The Master’s on Jan. 17, and posting a modest 61-50 win at last-place Hope International on Saturday.
“I thought that was an unbelievable defensive effort,” Davis said after the Lions held the Eagles to season-worst 26.8% field-goal shooting (14 for 52), including six of 26 from three-point range (23%). Biola also had 15 of the game’s 22 turnovers and its point total was 16 fewer than its previous low, obtained in a 54-51 conference loss at No. 3-ranked Westmont on Jan. 7.
Vanguard has allowed fewer points only once this season, in a 110-29 romp over Saint Katherine.
“I told [the Eagles’] coach [Alan Nakamura] that we hadn’t played like that all year,” Davis said. “Our respect for how well [Biola] had been playing brought out the best in us.”
In addition to its oppressive zone defense, Vanguard’s best included 18 points and 11 rebounds for senior Claire Lamunu, her 17th double-double of the season, as well as 16 points and four-for-five three-point shooting from senior Hanna Tabron.
“[The Eagles] did a good job on Claire [two points in the first 13 minutes], but she’s a machine,” Davis said.
“And Hanna played great,” Davis said. “She’s our best defensive player and she was flying around tonight.”
Davis said his defense was as cohesive as it was consistently aggressive.
“We swarmed them tonight,” Davis said. “We wanted to hold their top three players to 30 combined points. We were all over the place.”
Seniors Annie Park and Joclyn Kirton, as well as junior DeMoria White had been averaging a combined 44.4 points for Biola (15-5, 6-2). White, who had been averaging a team-best 18 points, has just two on one-for-13 shooting from the field.
White led the visitors with 10 points, including two three-pointers, while Kirton settled for six points and a team-best nine rebounds.
Vanguard scored the first five points of the game and led, 15-7, late in the first quarter.
From the last three seconds of the first quarter until 2:20 left in the half, the Lions went on a 13-2 run on their way to a 33-14 halftime lead.
A 16-2 run in a span of 5:42 that began with 1:06 left in the third quarter accentuated the dominance of the Lions, who eventually upped the lead to a high of 38 points.
Vanguard freshman point guard Victoria Chea earned special praise from Davis. She finished with seven points and seven assists.
Senior guard Maya Kennedy had eight of her 14 points in the third quarter for Vanguard.
Senior forward Jamie Goff had eight rebounds to go with her four points and senior junior Raechelle Davis, who played formerly at Orange Coast College, had five rebounds and four points in limited, but energetic minutes off the bench.
“I’m just really happy,” Davis said. “We have some more stuff coming up [including a visit to Westmont on Feb. 7], but that was a really big win.
GOLDEN STATE ATHLETIC CONFERENCE
Vanguard 71, Biola 35
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Biola 10 – 4 – 12 – 9 – 35
VU 15 – 18 – 20 – 18 – 71
BU – Kirton 6, Greens 2, Dougan 0, Park 10, White 2, Macedo 6, Shill 5, Brimley 4.
3-pt. goals – Park 2, Macedo 2, Brimley 1, Shill 1.
Fouled out – None.
Technicals – None.
VU – Lamunu 18, Goff 4, Tabron 16, Kennedy 14, Chea 7, Smith 6, Davis 4, Durr 2.
3-pt. goals – Tabron 4, Kennedy 2, Chea 1.
Fouled out – None.
