HONOLULU – Hawai'i Pacific University senior Starr Rivera touched off the year 2020 for the Sharks by exploding an elbow 3-pointer with 0.7 seconds to play that lifted nationally ranked HPU to a 58-57 PacWest Conference triumph over Biola on Thursday at The Shark Tank.
 
The Sharks (10-1, 5-0), ranked 14th in the WBCA Coaches poll and 10th in the D2SIDA poll, swapped the lead with the Eagles (8-4, 4-2) four times in the final quarter before the Sharks pulled off the win.
 
Rivera, from Honolulu/Roosevelt, collected 13 points in the contest, going 3-for-5 from the 3-point arc. HPU was led by the double-double of sophomore Abbey Noblett of Morwell, Australia/Lavalla Catholic, who collected 14 points and 11 rebounds. Sophomore Ally Bates of Melbourne, Australia/Yarra Valley just missed a double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds to go with three steals and a block. Junior Alysha Marcucci of Melbourne, Australia/Marist-Sion tallied 11 points with six assists and two blocked shots.
 
The Eagles were led by Tatum Brimley with 21 points, the only BU player in double figures in scoring, with 12 points in the second half. Danita Estorga added eight points with seven boards and Jelissa Puckett scored seven points with 12 rebounds and four steals.
 
The Sharks ended the contest shooting just 33 percent from the field (20-of-60), including 32 percent (9-of-28) from the 3-point arc, despite hitting 13-of-30 (43 percent) from the floor in the first half. HPU made 9-of-13 (69 percent) from the foul line. The Eagles connected on 40 percent of their shots (22-of-55), with 7-of-24 from the arc (29 percent). Biola made only 6-of-12 free throws (50 percent). The Eagles outrebounded the Sharks 39-35, but suffered 22 turnovers to HPU's 16.
 
The contest was tight early, with Biola taking a 7-6 lead after a Kayla Macedo 3-pointer with 4:48 remaining in the first. But HPU rallied with a Marcucci triple to spark a 9-0 run. The Eagles closed the quarter with a pair of scores to trim the HPU lead to 15-11 after the first.
 
The Eagles opened the quarter with a Brimley layup before Rivera canned a 3 and the Sharks went on an 11-3 run that was capped by a triple from Bates with 5:18 left in the half. HPU built an 15-point second quarter advantage on a layup from freshman Avery Cargill of Santa Rosa, Calif./Cardinal Newman with 33 seconds remaining, but settled for a 36-24 halftime lead after allowing a layup-free throw 3-point play by Jazz Benn with 0.2 seconds before intermission.
 
HPU kept a double-digit lead until midway through the third quarter, when Estorga's 3-pointer started a 10-4 Eagle run that sent the Sharks advantage to four with two minutes left in the period. But a layup from sophomore Amy Baum of Melbourne, Australia/Rowville Secondary, and two free throws by Bates offset a Biola score to give HPU a 49-43 lead at the quarter break.
 
The fourth quarter was a dog-fight as the teams swapped scores before Biola collected a layup and a free throw before Stephanie Lee hit a triple with 6:20 remaining to put the Eagles back in the lead for the first time since the opening quarter. The Sharks countered, only to see Brimley score four straight points to give BU a 56-53 lead with 2:23 left. Neither team scored again until the final 34 seconds when Brimley's foul of Noblett led her to a pair of free throws to cut the Eagle lead to 56-55.
 
Brimley was fouled with 23 seconds left, but made only 1-of-2 charity tosses. Noblett grabbed the board for HPU and worked the ball up court. Rivera pulled the trigger on a mid-range jumper with 14 seconds left, but missed. However she ran down the rebound as time clicked away. After a quick clearing, Marcucci again put the ball in the hands of Rivera was wide open for the elbow triple to put the Sharks back on top at 58-57 with 0.7 to play. The Eagles called timeout, advanced the ball to half court and then into the hands of Brimley, but a 28-foot 3-pointer was wide at the buzzer.
 
HPU doesn't have much time to enjoy the win. The Sharks play their second game of a five-games in nine days PacWest stretch on Saturday as they host Fresno Pacific. Tipoff is set for 1 p.m. at The Shark Tank.