LA MIRADA, Calif. - Since New Year's Day, the Concordia University Irvine women's basketball team has rattled off five wins in six games.

It's almost like the team's New Year's resolution was to gain ground on first-place Azusa Pacific.

Tied at 59 with Biola in a rare Tuesday night game, the Green and Gold were positioned to continue that climb after moving into second place in the conference standings over the weekend.

CUI (11-7, 8-4 PacWest) received impressive efforts from Michaela VanderKlugt (17 points on 8-for-16 shooting) and Samantha Fries (14 points and 10 rebounds), but Biola eventually pulled away in the fourth quarter and hung on for a 71-62 win that was closer than the final score indicates.  Both teams are now tied in the league standings.

Fries notched her first career double-double as an Eagle.  The Esperanza High School alum and Yorba Linda, Calif. native also was a +18 which led the team.

Jasmine Rachal added 14 points and Katie Timmerman chipped in with eight.  Freshman Malia Smith also sank a three-pointer off the bench, for her third trey of the season.

The game was originally scheduled to be played at Biola (12-7, 8-4 PacWest) in late December but had to be moved due to COVID-19 health and safety protocols at the time.

CUI continues its makeup tour this week with a NorCal road trip to Dominican on Friday at 3 p.m. and then visits Academy of Art on Sunday.

CLICK HERE for the full women's basketball schedule