AZUSA, CALIF. -- In the game that was seemingly diseased and sick for nearly 30 minutes of play, Azusa Pacific sophomore Catherine Solorio made a doctor's call off the bench to lead the Cougars to a 48-41 GSAC victory over Fresno Pacific Tuesday night in the Cougardome.

Solorio scored 15 of her game-high 18 points in the second half to rally the Cougars past Fresno Pacific and perhaps the Cougars themselves. Through the first 31 minutes of play, the 2 teams combined for just 47 points, solely because the Cougars and Sunbirds missed 64 shots and committed 36 turnovers.

With the Cougars clinging to a 24-23 lead with 9:50 left in the game (a score not to be mistaken as a first-half tally), Solorio scored 8 of the game's next 10 points in less than 2 minutes to lift the Cougars to a 34-23 lead with 6:20 to play.

"It felt pretty good to come off the bench and contribute so much" said Solorio. "The ball wasn't falling, so defense won the game. It was good to see that we don't have to play our best every time to win."

The Sunbirds went on an 8-0 run (6 points coming from the line) to pull back to within 34-31 after a pair of Genae Pratt free throws with 4:32 left in the game. However, Azusa Pacific responded with a 6-2 run to go back up 40-33 with 3:26 left and then held on by making 8-of-10 free throws in the final 3:02.

"Since we couldn't put the ball in the hole, the difference was we had to take the ball to them and get foul shots," said Azusa Pacific coach Danielle Jorgenson. "We were playing not to lose instead of playing to win. Yet, I'm proud of our defensive effort."

Twenty was the operative number to describe the first half. By 10 in minutes into the game, one had to wonder would either team score 20 points in the first half? Or would either team shoot over 20%? Or were there more than 20 turnovers in the first half. Well neither team came close to scoring 20 points. Only Azusa Pacific shot over 20% (22%/5-for-23). And combined the 2 teams tallied 21 turnovers with Fresno Pacific pacing the way with 11. Numbers like these are all that are needed to explain Fresno Pacific's 14-13 lead at halftime.

For the game, the 2 teams shot a combined 26% (26-for-101) and committed 50 turnovers and 39 fouls. Azusa Pacific made more free throws than field goals (22-13) while Fresno Pacific had just 2 more field goals than free throws (13-11).

Fresno Pacific was paced by Teresa Kamps' 12 points, 8 of which came from the line.

The 48 points are the lowest winning point total for the Cougars since Azusa Pacific beat Fresno Pacific, 47-46, in the 1988 NAIA district playoffs in Fresno.

With the win the Cougars improve to 13-4 overall, 4-2 in the GSAC. Fresno Pacific falls to 7-12 overall, 3-3 in the GSAC. Combined with last year's sweep of the Sunbirds, Azusa Pacific has now won 3 straight over Fresno Pacific for the first time ever.