IRVINE, CA --- Double-digit performances from five Eagles, including three seniors, helped power Concordia to an 87-80 win over San Diego Christian in the regular season finale, and more importantly, catapulted the Eagles to the eighth and final playoff berth for the GSAC Tournament.

The Eagles started the night at 4-15 in Golden State Athletic Conference play, and were on the outside-looking-in from a two-way tie for eighth place between California Baptist and Fresno Pacific, but with both teams dropping their GSAC finales Monday night, Concordia has at least one more game on the schedule for 2010.

Concordia (12-16, 5-15 GSAC) will tip off its GSAC Tournament First Round contest against GSAC co-champion and the NAIA's No. 3-ranked Vanguard this Wednesday (March 3), starting at 7:30 p.m. at The Pit in Costa Mesa.

Knowing that they held the tie-breaker with both CBU and FPU because of their Feb. 20 upset of then-No. 19 Biola, the Eagles also knew that they needed the win tonight to advance to postseason play for the first time since the 2006-07 season.

Concordia trailed by a 38-34 mark after 20 minutes of play in a contest that featured 13 lead changes and seven tied scores throughout.

The Eagles were able to put together an 11-0 run to turn a 44-44 tie into a 55-44 advantage with 14:10 left to play, and held a 10-point lead, when sophomore forward Cheyenne Wallace scored to make it a 57-47 CUI lead with 13:31 remaining.

San Diego Christian answered with a 14-3 rally of its own to take a slight advantage at 61-60, and the teams swapped momentum all the way until the final three minutes of the game.

With the Eagles trailing by a score of 74-73, Wallace hit both of her free throws to kick-start an 8-0 run that would prove to be the game-winner, leaving CUI with a commanding 81-74 lead heading into the final minute of the game.

Senior guard Kayanna Nichols posted her first double-digit performance in the past five games, scoring a team-high 19 points thanks to four treys, while senior forwards Lauren Sahli and Jen McDaniel both ended the night with 10 points.

Junior forward Karen Carney scored 12 points in the win, as junior point guard Nicole Fu netted 13 points and dealt out three assists.

Concordia will look to reverse a string of 15 consecutive losses to the Lions this Wednesday night, where the winner advances to the GSAC Semifinals Friday (March 5) at Biola.

Wednesday night's game will be carried via live audio broadcast at http://www.cuieagles.com/stretch.php, with Jeff Evans and Greg Dinneen calling the action.