La Mirada, CA- Playing in their GSAC season opener, Arizona Christian could not slow down the shooting of Biola as they fell 85-70 on Saturday afternoon.  Freshman Courtney Christmas delivered 22 points and 8 rebounds.  Senior Madison Austin followed with 16 points and 7 rebounds.

Austin started the game on a good note as she needed just six seconds to open the scoring.  But Biola answered by nailing their first shot of the game (a three pointer) that was a sign of many more things to come.

The Eagles (8-3, 2-0 GSAC) led the remainder of the first quarter without even a tie.

In the second quarter, down 17-12 just over a minute and a half into the quarter the Firestorm (5-5, 0-1 GSAC) regained the lead thanks to a 9-0 run that featured four different ACU players scoring.  Senior Alyssa Gruber opened the run, Christmas added a layup, Austin dialed in a three, and Freshman Jada Willingham capped the run with a steal and fast break layup.

Less than a minute later, Freshman Moana Hala'ufia gave ACU a five point cushion with 6:46 remaining in the first half.  That turned out to be the largest lead of the contest for the Firestorm.

Later just over a minute of action featured three leads changes and one tie.  Biola ended the half with an 11-6 edge to take a 35-31 advantage into the locker room.

Austin topped everyone with 12 first half points but the Eagles outshot the Firestorm 44% to 34.4% from the field and 40% to 22.2% from behind the three point line.

Biola owned the first five minutes of the second half building as large as a 15 point edge.

The Firestorm showed some fight as over the next 11 minutes of clock time carrying over into the fourth quarter trimmed the lead all the way down to just two after Gruber knocked down a three pointer to create a 71-69 score.

But Biola held Arizona Christian to just one point in the final 4:16 while hitting two three pointers and going 8-8 from the free throw line down the stretch to pull away.

In all areas of shooting in both halves - field goals, three pointers, or free throws- the Eagles outshot the Firestorm.

Next for the Firestorm will be a string of five straight homes including three games in five days next week beginning with hosting San Diego Christian on Tuesday.  The Firestorm and Hawks will tip at 5:30 pm.