California Baptist University
Biola
EAGLES PLAY HEARTBREAKER
2/28/2009 8:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
RIVERSIDE, Calif. ? In easily the most intense game of the year inside Van Dyne Gym on the women's side, California Baptist University came up just short, falling 86-84 to Biola.
The loss drops the Lancers (17-12, 9-10 GSAC) to a tie for seventh in the Golden State Athletic Conference and almost forces CBU to knock off second-ranked Vanguard, Monday, or make a run to the GSAC Tournament championship game for a possible berth the NAIA National Tournament in Jackson, Tenn.
Jeanine Deno scored a career-high 34 points, going 13-for-27 from the floor and 5-of-11 from 3-point range. She also grabbed six boards. Nicole Davis added 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting and Brenna Hahn scored 13.
The Lancers shot nearly 50 percent from the floor going 32-for-68 from the field, but couldn't stop Biola from shooting 54.4 percent. The Eagles were 19-of-31 from the field in the second half.
CBU committed a season-low six turnovers, but got out rebounded 47-27 with 23 points coming off second chances.
Neither team led by more than 10 at any point in the game and CBU had just three leads the entire contest.
The Lancers took their first lead of the game, at 22-20, on a 10-2 run that was capped by a Nikki Johnson running jumper to put CBU up 22-20. The Eagles answered with a 12-0 run to take one of their two 10-point leads at 32-22 with 5:46 left in the half. Later in the half, Davis nailed back-to-back jumpers to get within four at 34-30 with 3:10 left in the half, but Biola used a 9-3 run to take a 43-33 lead with 46 seconds left. Deno buried a trey with 29 seconds left to make it 43-36 at intermission.
The Lancers opened the second half with an 11-3 run to take a 47-46 lead, but the Eagles answered again with an 8-0 run to retake the lead at 54-47 with 15:01 left. Deno hit a pair of free throws to bring CBU back within one at 56-55, but Biola stretched it back out to 66-58 with 8:55 left to play. The Lancers cut its deficit to two on three occasions before Davis trained a trey to tie at 79. The Lancers took advantage of a Biola turnover and took just their second lead of the half, at 81-79.
Jessilyn Conicelli then sank a free throw and rebounded her missed free throw and got the put back to give the lead back to Biola at 82-81. Charrise Reece then hit a layup to put the Eagles up 84-81 before Deno tied it at 84 with a traditional 3-point play with 30 seconds left. The Eagles missed a jumper with seven seconds left but Conicelli corralled the loose ball and got the put back with 4.9 seconds to play.
After a CBU timeout, Brianna Estell drove the length of the court and drew a foul with 0.3 left on the clock. The sophomore transfer missed the first free throw and was forced to miss the second, but the Lancers couldn't come up with the tip.
Conicelli scored led the Eagles with 20 points while Megann Alberts had 16.
