AZUSA, Calif. -- Most people would be put away for life if they committed this much thievery. But all Azusa Pacific did was put away Concordia for the night.

On the strength of its harassing press that generated a season-high 24 steals, 16 of them in the second half, Azusa Pacific got back on the winning track with a 71-54 win over Concordia.

The win is the Cougars' sixth in their past 7 games and moves them to 18-9 overall, 11-6 GSAC. Concordia drops to 14-13, 7-10. The win also avenges an earlier 83-73 setback in January to the Eagles.

"We pressed them in the first half, we just didn't have any intensity," said Azusa Pacific head coach Danelle Liles. "We were tenacious in the second half and that was the difference."

Marie Dyk finished with 11 points, hitting a trio of 3-point bombs. After Nicolette Dresback broke a 36-36 tie with a lay-up just 5:01 into the second half, Dyk hit back-to-back treys, and the Cougars were off on a 23-2 run over the next 5:32 that blew the game open. The Cougars had 8 of their 24 steals in the run.

The front 3 guards of Candis (Regan), Nicolette (Dresback) and Marie (Dyk) forced the issue and put people into traps" said Liles. "I told them at halftime 'don't come back in here after the game saying 'would've, could've, should've.' We're a second half team and that's a little frustrating for me that we're not a full 40-minute team. But there wasn't one point in the game that I was nervous about the outcome."

And there shouldn't have been.

Once the Cougars opened up the 21-point lead, they put it on cruise control and never let the Eagles any closer than 12 before settling of the 17-point win.

With the score tied 20-20 with 5:30 left to play in the opening half, Concordia, led by 4 free throws from Nancy Hatsushi went on an 8-2 run to take a 28-22 lead with 2:22 to play. At that point, the Cougars held the Eagles scoreless over a 5:02 span that covered both halves. Dresback hit a trey to give the Cougars a 36-32 lead with 15:44 to play before Carrie Twaddell buried back-to-back jumpers to tie the game at 36-36 with 14:59 to play. The Eagles were scoreless for 4:10 of the Cougars' 23-2 run.

Dresback finished with a team-high 14 points, 5 rebounds and 7 steals. Hudson added 12 and a game-high 9 rebounds. Twadell led Concordia with 16 points and 7 rebounds.