COSTA MESA, Calif. – The 12th ranked Vanguard Lions (5-1,2-1) suffered a significant loss on their home court to Hope International University. Bill and Shirley Reynolds Court in The Pit witnessed the Royals (1-4,1-4) record a 64-44 victory as the team earned their first win of the season.
What Happened? Hope International pounced on the Pride from the opening tip and never let up. They tallied a 9-0 advantage before Vanguard scored and, although the Lions closed it to a 11-7 score with one minute left in the quarter, the Royals never lost the lead. Airiana Madanksi sank a triple with 8:54 left until halftime which closed it to a 13-12 margin. For the remainder of the half, HIU went on a 13-8 run to take a six-point edge into the intermission. The third quarter was not much better for the Blue and Gold as the deficit continued to build with Hope International recording a double-digit lead at the 6:38 mark. From that point VU was never within single digits on the scoreboard. A missed jumper by the Lions with 12 seconds left parked a Fastbreak layup by HIU and a 45-31 lead at the quarter. With a lot of ground to cover, the Pride needed stops on the defensive end and to convert points on the other end. They could not sync these needs u in the final 10 minutes of play as they were outscored 19-13 in the quarter. For the game, the Lions shot 27.1% from the field and was 4-20 from behind the arc. Conversely, HIU shot 53.1% from the floor and connected on 33% of their tries from downtown.
Why It's Important? The old adage that you can't beat a team three straight times continues to ring true as the inconsistencies in the Lions lineup finally caught up with them. Vanguard is now 59-4 all-time against the Royals, winners of eight of the last ten games. The Blue and Gold was 5-1 after six games a year ago; Their last undefeated start to the season was in 2018-19 when they began the year 11-0.
Top Performers: Offense was harder to come by for the Lions compared to the Royals. HIU had a trio combine for 44 points while the Pride posted only one in double figures – Lauren Baumgartner (SO/Meridian, ID). She scored 14 points and grabbed eight rebounds while battling foul trouble. Michaella Elad (SR/Ontario, CA) went for 13 rebounds and eight points while her frontline partner Estefania Giner (SO/Chihuahua, Mexico) scored six and grabbed 11 boards.
What They Said: Assistant Coach Maiya Michel – "Hope International is a tough, competitive team and they showed it tonight. They jumped on us early and never gave us an opportunity to get back into it. They deserve a lot of credit as we dug ourselves a big hole and we couldn't recover. Now its time to regroup before another extremely tough week with Westmont up next."
What's Next: The Lions will begin a three-game series with #4 Westmont College on Tuesday, February 16th at 4:30 p.m.
#ClawsUp
