SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – They controlled their own destiny and they took advantage of the opportunity.
The Concordia University Irvine women's basketball team needed to beat Westmont on the road in their regular season finale to clinch a spot in the upcoming PacWest Conference Championships. Hawai'i Hilo was waiting in the wings after beating Hawai'i Pacific earlier in the afternoon and the Vulcans held the tiebreaker on CUI.
Holding a tiebreaker with Biola, but in danger of missing the conference tournament with a loss, the Golden Eagles took care of business behind a spirited effort out of the entire squad.
Freshman guard
Izzy Navarro dropped 18 points and her and graduate student
Stephanie Lee each drained four treys to lead the offense.
Teagan Thurman was a force inside as well, scoring 12 points and hauling in eight rebounds and two steals.
"It was definitely a bit nerve-wrecking but it made us work even harder," said Navarro when asked about the stakes in the regular season finale. "This entire week we knew we had done everything to prepare to win and make the tournament. Our hard work paid off."
"Huge win for our program," said CUI head coach
Christine Collins-Kiernan. "They responded to pressure being put on them, stuck together and truly produced a victory as a team. Happy for them and glad they took ownership of controlling their story."
As a team, Concordia shot a sizzling 48 percent from behind the three-point line, making 13-of-27 shots from downtown. And it wasn't only Navarro and Lee making buckets.
Kendall Jackson added seven points – including two clutch triples. Mater Dei High School alum
Camryn Kiernan and Rosary Academy graduate
Savannah Felix-Amoroso combined for a dozen points and
Justyce Harris also collected eight rebounds.
"We played better as a team as we progressed," said Navarro. "It was a bit of a rough start but every rotation came in building on what the prior rotation had established. We executed everything better and better as the game went on."
WHAT'S NEXT?
Concordia will face Dominican in the first round of the upcoming conference tournament.
The PacWest Conference Championships begin Thursday, March 7 in San Diego at Point Loma Nazarene University. The Golden Eagles and Penguins will meet for the third time this season at 7:15 p.m. Thursday night in the fourth game of the day. The men's games are first, followed by the host Sea Lions as the No. 3 seed against No. 6 seed Biola before the CUI-Dominican match up.
The Fresno Pacific Sunbirds are the No. 2 seed and Azusa Pacific also earned a first round bye after going undefeated in conference play.
CLICK HERE for a look at the match ups in the women's bracket
CLICK HERE for the updated CUI women's basketball schedule
CLICK HERE to review the PacWest standings
