FRESNO, Calif.- After knocking down its first three attempts from deep, the Fresno Pacific Sunbirds (14-5 overall, 8-3 PacWest) relied on their PacWest best defense to hold Biola off 54-49 Saturday at the Special Events Center.

Fresno Pacific had three different players connect on three-pointers on their first three attempts before locking down defensively in fourth-quarter slugfest.

The Sunbirds offense started rolling behind Felicia Dourva from the three-point line.

After Maesyn Rix found a crafty layup to get FPU on the board, Julie Ramirez and Anisa Rillo both hit threes to put FPU in front and then Dourva knocked down her first.

Bre Hurt hit a jumper to set FPU out to a 13-4 lead before Dourva knocked down another three and a couple of free-throws. Biola tightened things up a bit at the end of the quarter but the 'Birds held an 18-12 lead after one quarter.

In the second quarter, Jasmine Heu added a three-pointer before Dourva hit two more threes, including a thrilling final shot of the half, which made it 33-25 in favor of FPU at the break.

The 'Birds marched the lead out to 10 points midway through the third, with Heu's second three-pointer of the game pushing the advantage to 40-30.

Rillo made a pair of layups at the end of the quarter, sandwiching a Dourva free-throw, to give FPU its largest lead at 11.

Biola brought it down to seven by the end of the period.

The game took a sharp turn in the fourth as Biola logged a single free-throw for the only point in the first six minutes of the period.

Rix changed that with a layup and 4:34 remaining to push FPU's lead back to 8 points. Biola trimmed that to four before FPU sealed it at the line with Dourva's free-throws.

FPU continued to shoot the ball well from deep Saturday, knocking down 8 more threes after 13 on Thursday.

Dourva led the way by hitting on 4 of 9 and finished with her third 20 points game of the season.

Rillo was FPU's next highest scorer with 9 points and added a pair of steals while leading a strong defensive effort for the Sunbirds.

Fresno Pacific will get a week off at home before hosting Hawai'i Pacific on Saturday, February 3^rd at 2:00 p.m. in the Special Events Center.

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