Costa Mesa, CA- Needing a win to continue their season, Arizona Christian's upset bid of #8 Vanguard came up just short on Saturday as they fell 73-65.  Senior Madison Austin closed out her collegiate career with a game high 23 points.

Senior Alyssa Gruber got the Firestorm (13-16, 5-11 GSAC) off on the right foot as she buried a three pointer to open the scoring.  A basket by Freshman Courtney Christmas gave ACU another three point cushion.

But the Lions (22-5, 13-3 GSAC) responded with an 8-0 counter to move ahead for the rest of the quarter.

Like the first quarter, ACU came out knocking down shots to begin the second quarter.  A Christmas layup, free throw by Freshman Moana Hala'ufia, and three pointer for Austin gave the Firestorm a 22-19 edge two and a half minutes into the second quarter.  After briefly giving up the lead, Christmas converted a pair of free throws for a 24-23 advantage.

Unfortunately, VUSC scored the next seven points to move back ahead.

Just before the break, a layup and one by Austin made it a two point game (31-29) headed to the locker rooms.

Austin topped ACU with nine points at the intermission.

Once again, Arizona Christian used a three pointer from Gruber to move back ahead 32-31 just 30 seconds in the second half.

And also like the previous quarters, Vanguard quickly took back the lead.  But third time proved to be a charm for the Lions as they would not surrender the lead the rest of the contest.

At game's end, Christmas joined Austin in double figures with 14 points.  With her 23 point effort, Austin locked up the GSAC WBB regular season scoring title with her 17.4 scoring average.

The 51-29 rebounding difference in Vanguard's favor was too much for Arizona Christian to overcome.

Despite being outmanned and undersized throughout the season, ACU never stopped putting a fight.  Nice effort, Firestorm.