AZUSA, Calif. - The Concordia University Irvine women's basketball team looked to get back in the win column on Thursday night but ultimately lost to Azusa Pacific University 74-45.

The theme for the first half was 'stop the bleeding'.  The Cougars had all the momentum but the Eagles got timely stops when they needed them along with timely baskets.  

"We knew we had a tough match up coming in, but we also knew we were capable of staying in the game with them too," said Jasmine Rachal.  "We proved that in the second quarter but we have to play that type of game for four quarters. We are resilient and want to be great. We will be back in the gym tomorrow at 6am ready to bounce back for our game on Monday night."  

The Eagles managed to outscore the Cougars in the second quarter to head into the break down 36-28. 

Sophomore guard Katie Timmerman led the Eagles with nine points at halftime.  

Junior forward Michaela VanderKlugt recorded double digit rebounds for the second straight game (12).  VanderKlugt continues to climb the Eagle leaderboard in that category. She is now in sixth place on the all time defensive rebound list with 436.  

In the second half the Cougars scored almost every time down the floor while the Eagles struggled to consistently put the ball in the hole.  

No matter the score, every single player who got in the game left it all out there on the floor.  

"We aren't a group of women that quit after a tough loss," said Rachal.  "We are going to look at our mistakes and make the adjustments necessary to be the best team we can be."

Freshman forward Savannah Felix-Amoroso came off the bench to give the Eagles eight points, six rebounds, and one block. 

Timmerman finished the game with a team high 12 points.  VanderKlugt joined her in double figures with ten.  

With this game in the rearview mirror the Eagles look to learn from their mistakes, move forward, and prepare for Fresno Pacific.

"There is definitely a lot we can learn from this game like taking care of the ball and limiting their points off transition especially since fresno is a scrappy team that likes to push the ball offensively," said Timmerman.  "Ultimately we have to be able to fight through adversity when things are not going our way in the game and be able to come together and regroup so we can prevent our opponent from going on big runs."