AZUSA, Calif. -- When Azusa Pacific and Vanguard play, 40 minutes of basketball just isn't enough. For the second time in a week, the Cougars and Lions needed extra time to determine the outcome, and as was the case last week, the Cougars prevailed winning 87-73 in triple overtime in a semifinal of the GSAC Postseason Tournament.
The win puts the Cougars in Tuesday night's final against the winner of tonight's 6 p.m. semifinal between Fresno Pacific and Biola with the GSAC's second automatic bid to the NAIA Tournament on the line.
The Cougars led 66-58 with 4:03 remaining in regulation when Vanguard ended the frame with an 8-0 run, the final 5 points coming from Erin Edminston, to force overtime. It was Edminston, who last Saturday in Costa Mesa, converted a 4-point play in the final minute to force OT in that game as well. (Azusa Pacific eventually won 96-83 in double overtime.)
In the first overtime today, Vanguard opened a 3-point (71-68) lead with 2:33 to go, and appeared to take complete control of the game when Azusa Pacific guard Jacqueline Godoy fouled out. However, on the next Cougar possession senior guard Catherine Solorio converted a 4-point play, hitting a corner 3-ball and converting a subsequent free throw to swing the momentum back to the Cougars.
With score knotted at 73-73, Vanguard had a chance to win the game in the first overtime, but Azusa Pacific's Stephanie Patten blocked a Lion jumper in the key to force another OT.
In the second overtime, Patten made a driving baseline lay-up around Vanguard's Kelly Boeke with 0.6 seconds remaining to tie the game at 82-82 and force yet another overtime period.
In the third extra frame, neither team made a field goal, but a tired set of Cougars finally got the best of a worn out Vanguard, out-scoring the Lions, 5-1, at the free throw line to finally win the game.
Solorio finished with 26 points, while Patten added 22, including 9 in the overtime periods. Godoy, who had to watch the final 12:33 from the bench, tallied 20 points, 7 assists and 4 steals.
"Patten has been unbelievable the last month," said Elofson, "and today was probably the most clutch performance of her career. She blocked the potential game-winner at the end of the first overtime, and then the baseline lay-up on Boeke was probably the biggest shot of her career."
Beth Weidler scored a team-high 20 points for Vanguard, including 12 in the second half when Vanguard rallied from 8 down.
"This team is really growing, and they realize that one person is not going to make or break this team," said Azusa Pacific head coach Matt Elofson, regarding Godoy fouling out. "They said to themselves we're winning this game, no matter what."
Azusa Pacific opened the game with a 21-8 run to take a 13-point lead 10 minutes in, but Vanguard fought back to climb within 3 (34-31) at halftime. The Cougars led for most of the second half, however, the lead never grew bigger than 8 points (66-58 with 4:03 remaining).
With the victory, Azusa Pacific improves to 24-7. Vanguard falls to 17-11 and will have to wait for word over the next 3 days to see if it earns an at-large bid into the NAIA Tournament.
