IRVINE, CA --- Needing a win to keep up hope alive for a playoff berth, and wanting a win to snap an unsightly seven-game losing streak, Concordia accomplished both its stated purposes in a 67-66 overtime win over the NAIA's No. 19 Biola Saturday night.
Concordia's first win since Jan. 23 improves the Eagles to 11-14, including a 4-13 mark in Golden State Athletic Conference play.

Biola sees its three-game winning streak snapped, meanwhile, falling to 16-10, including 11-6 in GSAC tilts.

"Our defensive intensity won the game for us tonight," head coach Jenny Hansen said. "We've been working on that all week in practice. We went through our typical scoring droughts, but this time, there was no let-down on defense. It was a great team win all across the board."

The Eagles, who shot just 60 percent (15-for-25) from the charity stripe, converted just two of four in the final minute of regulation, but that was enough to push the game to overtime, with the score tied at 62-62.

After Biola's Jennifer French--who scored a game-high 28 points--put down a basket to make it a 64-62 game early into overtime, junior guard Nicole Fu answered with a game-tying layup just 13 seconds later.

Fu then went 1-for-2 from the free-throw line with 2:49 left in the period to give CUI a 65-64 lead that it would not surrender the rest of the way.

Neither team scored in the final 1:18, but Biola looked like it had a golden opportunity with 11 seconds left to spoil Concordia's Homecoming night with a CUI crowd of 1,459.

After grabbing an offensive rebound with 25 seconds to play and a new shot clock to burn, Concordia gave up the ball thanks to the hot pursuit of Biola's Charrise Reece with just 11 seconds left and Biola trailing by one point.

After each team called a timeout, Reece was kept from scoring on a last-second trey attempt, securing the win for Concordia.

Fu scored 13 points for Concordia, which was led by 15 points from junior center Lindsey Kingsland and 14 points from junior guard Britnie Priest.

Junior forward Cheyenne Wallace ended with 12 rebounds.

CUI shot 35 percent (23-for-65) from the field and hit six triples, while Biola shot 39 percent (26-for-67) and went 3-for-13 from beyond the arc.

The win puts Concordia within striking distance of eighth-place California Baptist, which now holds a one-game lead for the final playoff seed.

"We've been focusing on these last four games in terms of putting us into position to make the playoffs," Hansen said. "This is a big win for us in that respect, especially if we're going to need to get in on a tie-breaker, but it also gives us a lot of momentum going into the last three games."

Concordia next hosts the NAIA's No. 3-ranked Vanguard this Tuesday (Feb. 23), starting at 5:30 p.m. at CU Arena.

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