Costa Mesa, CA- No. 23 Arizona Christian Women's Basketball started fast against No. 8 Vanguard before falling 79-67 on Saturday afternoon.  The ACU starters outscored the VU starters 50-31 but the Vanguard bench outscored the ACU reserves 48-17.  Junior Jada Willingham topped with 19 points.

The Firestorm (17-5, 6-3 GSAC) were in complete control in the first seven minutes of the contest as they built a 19-6 lead.  Willingham buried three 3 pointers while ACU jumped out to an 11-0 lead.  She later added a jumper to account for 11 of those first 19 points.

But the Lions (16-3, 6-3 GSAC) outscored ACU 13-3 in the final three minutes of the first quarter as Arizona Christian held a 22-19 advantage.

ACU held onto the lead until Vanguard move in front for the first time at the 2:47 mark in the second quarter.  Two ties and two lead changes took place before the Lions were up just 38-36 at the half.

Willingham was still on 11 points at the break.

Out of the break, VU built an eight point lead before an 8-0 ACU run that included four points from Junior Courtney Christmas (17 points) and capped by a pair of free throws from Willingham that knotted the game at 46-46 with 4:47 left in the third.  However, the Lions nailed a three on their next trip down the floor and did not allow even another tie.

Head Coach Odell Berry stated, "I thought we played with a lot of heart this afternoon against a tough Vanguard team.  Their size and depth proved to be too much for us today.  Foul trouble, turnovers, and our inability to stop them in the paint ultimately allowed them to pull away.  I'm hoping we learned some things from the loss and that we are ready to go on the road against the GSAC leading Westmont Warriors."

On Thursday, the Firestorm will be back in California to meet up with #6 Westmont in Santa Barbara.  Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30 pm PT/ 6:30 pm AT.