LA MIRADA, Calif. - To tip off the CUI women's basketball 2023-2024 season, the Golden Eagles were on neutral ground in the PacWest/CCAA Crossover Tournament, playing against the Cal State San Bernardino Coyotes.
Starting off the regular season, the Golden Eagles were excited to play someone who wasn't themselves and make it count towards their record. Head coach
Christine Collins-Kiernan, who is now in her seventh season at the helm of the women's team, had them ready and excited for another season of basketball.
Both teams shot an impressive percentage in the first quarter of play, where the Coyotes shot 55%, and CUI edged them out by shooting 57% from the field. The Coyotes led the Golden Eagles by one point at the end of the first quarter with a score of 22-21.
In the second quarter, the offensive play evened out on both sides, and the defense started to take over. The Golden Eagles center
Teagan Thurman blocked multipl shots and made the Coyotes think twice about driving to the basket. The half ended with a great bounce pass from freshman
Hannah Vela to
Erika Maggard to tie the game up at 35-35.
Throughout the second half of play, both teams were neck and neck, going bucket for bucket without any significant lead on either of the other. The Coyotes eventually went on a 7-0 run in the middle of the third quarter and had this lead all the way up until the last two and half minutes in the fourth quarter. The Golden Eagles made their run with three threes in a row, starting from
Hannah Vela,
Izzy Navarro, and
Camryn Kiernan, to bring it to a tie game late in the fourth. The game went into overtime with the momentum entirely on the Golden Eagles.
In overtime, the offense unfortunately did not have enough gas in the tank to sustain the comeback for CUI, and the game ended with a final score of 76-78. The Golden Eagles fought hard with fantastic finishes from Teagn Thurman with 15 points, 10 rebounds, and two blocked shots, true freshman
Izzy Navarro with 15 points and three assists, and
Savannah Felix-Amoroso with 15 points, three steals, and an impressive 14 rebounds with seven of those being offensive boards.
CUI faces Alaska Fairbanks on Saturday at 1 p.m. as the tournament continues at Biola University.
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