Junior guard Sullivan Ziegler attacks the Point Loma defense in the playoff win that brings the Cougars to the NCCAA tournament. She scored four points, dished out a game-high five assists and grabbed two steals. Photo: Blake Standal
The Azusa Pacific women’s basketball redeemed its Feb. 22 loss to Point Loma that ended the Cougars’ campaign for the Pacific West Conference title through a 71-60 win Tuesday, March 4 over the Sea Lions in the National Christian College Athletics Association West Region Championship.
The Cougars, who were outshot by the Sea Lions 58 percent to 42 percent in their last meeting, kept their opponent’s overall shooting at 38 percent. Point Loma went 4-for-24 from beyond the arc, a significant downgrade from the team’s 9-for-15 performance against Azusa Pacific last month.
“We [also] changed our defense. … We didn’t do a very good job of defending them and so we changed it around to be able to match up with them a little bit better,” said APU head coach T.J. Hardeman. “For the most part, we were able to get a hand up on shooters.”
The Sea Lions challenged the once 14-point Cougar lead, making it a two-point game with just 7:05 to play. Azusa Pacific, however, answered with a layup from junior forward Sendy Valles and a jumper off a turnover from junior guard Sullivan Ziegler. The Cougars pulled away back into a double-digit lead to end the game after completing 8-of-9 free throws.
“It was almost like we were playing not to lose and I said, ‘Hey, we have to play to win. We have to go after them and execute what we want to do and quit waiting for something to happen,’” Hardeman said. “I thought we came out of that timeout a little bit more aggressive and looking for each other.”
Junior guard Allison Greene led the Cougar offense with 19 points while sophomore forward Kelly Hardeman collected 13 points. Freshman center Maggie Dumphy posted a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds, adding to Valles’ double-double performance of 13 points and 12 rebounds.
“We traditionally have been a better rebounding team than them and last time it was a draw on the boards, so we really emphasized meeting them on the boards,” Hardeman said. “This time we did. We beat them by 14, which was huge.”
Azusa Pacific will compete in the NCCAA tournament in Winona Lake, Ind., which begins Wednesday, March 19.