AZUSA, Calif. -- There are nights when players just fulfill roles and contribute any way they can. Then, there are other nights when certain players just flat out like to take over.
Tonight was Nicolette Dresback's turn to take over.
The senior from Seattle, Wash., put her teammates on her back Tuesday night with a 25-point, 10-rebound performance to lift No. 24-ranked Azusa Pacific to am 84-76 win over visiting Fresno Pacific.
With the win, Azusa Pacific improves to 9-4 overall, 2-2 GSAC. Fresno Pacific drops to 8-6, 2-2.
Trailing 32-31 at halftime, the Cougars stormed out of the locker room, scoring the first 7 points of the half to take a 38-32 lead. They never trailed again. Dresback had 5 points, including her lone trey of night, in the spurt, but it was her play in the final 2:30 of the game that sparked the Cougars.
"This was a big win, because Fresno Pacific is one of those teams that never gives up and keeps coming at you," said Azusa Pacific head coach Danelle Liles. "I was real pleased with our energy, passion and desire, especially in the second half when we needed it most."
After Maurecia Clark drilled a jumper to tie the game at 74-74 with 2:34 to play, Dresback converted a 3-point play to give the Cougars the lead for good at 77-74 with 2:27 to play.
Seven seconds later, Clark cut the deficit to 1 (77-76) with a pair of free throws, but Lindsey West made a jumper to push the advantage back to 3 (79-76) with 1:06 to play. On the ensuing possession, Clark attacked the basket, but a waiting Dresback took a charge, fouling out Clark, who finished with 25 points on the night.
"That was a huge play, considering at what point in the game it came," said Liles. "We practice real hard on taking charges in practice every day, and so it paid off tonight."
Dresback then put the game away with another 3-point play with 19 seconds remaining, and her 2 free throws in the final second provided the final margin. At one point, Dresback was just 3-for-10 from the line, but she buried them when they counted, nailing all 5 of her charity shots in the final 5 minutes.
"It's always frustrating when you miss free shots like that," said Dresback, "but I was able to make them at the end when it counted most. We knew that if we could keep our composure and play together we could pull this one out."
Sheila Kamps buried a 3-pointer to start the game, and the Sunbirds led for all but 36 seconds of the first half. They opened the game with a 15-5 run as Jane Gillespie scored 6 of her 17 first half points in the opening spurt. Gillespie ended the night with a game-high 27 points.
Marie Dyk then scored 7 of the Cougars' next 9 points as the Cougars cut the deficit to 1 (15-14) with 12:40 to play and then took their first lead of the night (29-28) on a Dyk lay-up with 4:12 to go in the first half.
Three other Cougars finished in double figures. West finished the night with 21 points and 9 rebounds. Freshman Monica Somers added 18 points, 6 steals and 3 assists, including 2 key ones in the final minute. Dyk chipped in with 17 points. The Cougars committed just 13 turnovers and just 3 in the second half. On the flip side, they forced the Sunbirds into 25 turnovers and held them to just 2-for-15 from the 3-point line.
