OLIVER KIMOKEO | sports editor
AMBER WOLF | staff writer

Biola shows heart in a late surge which took APU to the brink.

There is a old sports adage which advises to not let your guard down when your team has a huge lead. The Cougars did not follow the standard against rival Biola but still managed to get a 77-70 defeat of the Eagles.

With three minutes and 10 seconds to go in the game, the Cougars held a 67-50 lead over Biola. The Eagles then proceeded a furious comeback. Biola made four three-pointers to close the gap to a 73-68 five-point deficit with 30 seconds to go.

Senior forward Abby Johnson clinched the win for the Cougars with four clutch free throws as she was fouled twice.

“We gave them too many second chance shots,” senior guard Kate Shipp said.

APU extended their stretch of good fortune over the Eagles this past decade. The Cougars have taken 20 wins out of their last 23 games against their La Mirada rival. APU leads 35-31 overall in the whole series dating back to 1971.

“A win’s a win—you have to take it when you get it, but we can play a lot better than we showed tonight,” Shipp said. “The rivalry can be a lot of fun, but we just needed to stay focused on getting the win without getting too caught up in the atmosphere.”

The Cougars have been rewarded for their persistence nonetheless. They penetrated the NAIA top 5 for the first time this season the day after playing Biola.
APU has established itself as a frontrunner in the GSAC for the second half of the conference games.

They are tied for first place in the conference with Point Loma Nazarene and Vanguard. None of the teams have defeated both of their challengers: APU won against PLNU, Vanguard won against APU, and PLNU won against Vanguard.

The Cougars will get their opportunity to sweep the season series of PLNU tomorrow in San Diego. Sophomore center Kristie Hala’ufia suggests the Cougars may have had PLNU on the back of their mind approaching Biola.

“It was definitely a team effort tonight,” Hala’ufia said. “We are working on our defense and working up to Saturday’s game against Point Loma. So we knew we couldn’t think about that.”

Both Biola and APU started off with a lull. There was only nine points scored through a 5-4 lead for APU in the first four minutes. The Cougars then proceeded to dominate Biola with a defense which enabled APU to score 14 points off turnovers in the first half.

“We have in our minds that if things are not working out offensively then we know we had to come off big defensively,” Hala’ufia said.

The Cougars took a 40-21 lead into the half. They could not extend the lead past 19 points in the second half but consistently held a double-digit lead going into the final minute of the game.

Even though APU held a substantial lead over the Eagles all night, they felt like they could have played better in the game.

“We didn’t play with much of a killer instinct,” head coach T.J. Hardeman said. “It might have been a distraction to be playing in front of so many people. We don’t prepare or plan any different for this game, but the emotions are different. Sometimes those can keep you from focusing as well as you’d like to.”

Four Cougars scored in double figures: Hala’ufia with 17 points; Johnson with 14 points; Shipp with 12 points; and freshman guard Michelle Byrd with 12 points. Johnson added 10 rebounds to complement her point total and she achieved her seventh double-double in the last eight games.