Junior guard Allison Greene looks to deal another assist to sophomore forward Kelly Hardeman. Greene recorded 14 points, nine rebounds and eight assists while Hardeman tied for the team lead in scoring and rebounds during her return with 16 points and nine rebounds.
Photo by Kimberly Smith
The Azusa Pacific women’s basketball team took down rival Cal Baptist Friday night, ending the Lancers’ five-game winning streak and finishing with a 76-63 score. With this victory the Cougars are now tied for first place for the Pacific West Conference title.
From the very beginning, the Cougars took charge by starting the game with a 20-9 lead over the Lancers. Cal Baptist answered with a late run to narrow the gap to 38-30 at halftime.
“I thought it was an awesome team effort tonight. I was really happy
with the intensity throughout the game, and the willingness to get loose
balls,” head coach T.J Hardeman said. “I thought there were three or four times where they looked like
they were about to make a run, and none of our girls looked worried or
rattled. They responded really well and I thought it showed tremendous
character.”
Four Cougars scored in double digits including true freshman center Maggie Dumphy with 16 points and eight rebounds, junior guard Allison Greene with 14 points, nine rebounds, eight assists and five steals and junior guard Sullivan Ziegler with 10 points. Leading the way was sophomore forward Kelly Hardeman, who made her return to the court after sitting out three games due to injury. She posted 16 points, nine rebounds and three steals. Throughout the game, the Cougars were able to create positive points off turnovers, outscoring the Lancers 21-5.
“Ball pressure and just being really aggressive was what we really focused on,” Hardeman said. “The girls did well, we worked on diving on the floor and a couple of hustle plays like that so just having that mentality fueled our offense.”
With the win, Azusa Pacific improves to 9-1 in the conference, tying Academy of Art for first place in the Pacific West Conference standings. The Cougars will go on a four-game road trip before returning home to the Felix Event Center on Feb. 13 to face BYU-Hawaii.