AZUSA, CALIF. -- Senior center Alison Carr pounded home a career-high 27 points and pulled down a career-high 14 rebounds to lead Azusa Pacific past Cal Baptist, 83-63, in a GSAC women's basketball game Saturday night in Azusa.
"We were so mismatched with them," said Carr. "They just didn't match up well with us, and it made it so much easier tonight."
After a pair of Carr free-throws extended the Cougar lead to 23 points, at 55-32 with 16:30 left in the game, Cal Baptist went on a 20-4 run over the next 7-plus minutes to trim Azusa Pacific's lead to just 7 (59-52) with 9:54 left in the game.
However, Danna Wilder came into the game and gave the Cougars a lift, scoring 10 of her 12 points during a 24-11 Azusa Pacific run to close out the game.
"I was so upset that Cal Baptist came back," said Wilder. "When I went back into the game I was ready to make something happen and fire us up."
Freshman Catherine Solorio added 14 points for the Cougars. For the Lancers, Grace Smart scored a team-high 20 points, including 14 in the second half. Kati Sico also added 16 for Cal Baptist.
"For 32 minutes we gave a good effort," said Cougar coach Danielle Jorgenson. "We haven't met a team this year who has rolled over and died on us."
Both teams were aided by excellent free-throw shooting. The Cougars went 18-for-19 (95 percent) at the line, while Cal Baptist also shot 88 percent (14-for-16) from the charity stripe.
Azusa Pacific jumped out to a 27-6 lead in the first 9:45 of the contest, not allowing the Lancers to make a field goal during that stretch. Smart finally connected with 10:15 left in the first half to end a Lancer 0-for-10 drought to open the game. The Cougars scored 14 of their 47 first half points on 14 Lancer turnovers. In all, Cal Baptist finished the game with 23 turnovers.
With the victory, Azusa Pacific improves to 13-5 overall, 3-1 in GSAC play to stay in a 3-way tie for first place in the conference. Meanwhile Cal Baptist falls to 7-13 overall, 1-3 in conference.
