AZUSA, Calif.-- If Azusa Pacific was the shark, Concordia was the blood in the water.

The NAIA’s No. 12-ranked Cougars scored 8 straight points to open an 11-point lead, and then smelled the blood and blew the game open with an 11-0 spurt to open a 22-point lead, and that was just in the first half.

From there the Cougars turned on the jets and boat raced the Eagles, 95-60, Saturday night in Azusa.

Seven of the 9 Cougars that played scored in double figures led by 14 from Monica Somers.

“We are so deep, and to get 7 in double figures makes us very tough to beat,” said Azusa Pacific head coach Danelle Liles. “We are unselfish and they play together. What we saw tonight was a passionate effort. That was Azusa Pacific basketball.”

With the win, Azusa Pacific improves to 12-4 overall, 4-1 GSAC. Concordia falls to 7-6, 1-4.

The Cougars held Concordia scoreless for the first 3:41 of the game and outscored them 10-2 in the first 5:58. The Eagles climbed to within 3 (15-12) before the Cougars scored 8 straight capped by an Ashley Oakes lay-up to take a 23-12 lead with 8:06 to play.

Then they smelled blood and went for the kill.

Leading 29-18 with 5:09 to play, the Cougars scored 11 straight in a 2:15 span keyed by a pair of Jaclyn Rice jumpers. Carrie Twadell sandwiched 4 points around a Lindsey West jumper before the Cougars outscored the Eagles, 9-1, to close the half and carry a 51-23 lead into the locker room. That run was capped by a Rice jumper at the buzzer.

The Cougars held the Eagles to just 6 field goals in the first half and 31.6% (6-for-19) shooting. They also forced 15 turnovers in the first 20 minutes, and had Concordia not made 9 free throws, the margin would have been bigger. As poorly as the Eagles played, the Cougars were that much better. They shot 58.8% (20-for-34) and committed just 3 first half turnovers.

The rest was just elementary. The Eagles got no closer than 26 the rest of the night as the Cougars continued to apply pressure with easy inside buckets and fast-break lay-ups eventually ballooning the lead to as many as 37 points.

The Cougars outscored the Eagles, 50-16, in the paint continually attacking the Eagles imposing front-line of the 6-3 Twaddell, one of the NAIA’s leading shot-blockers, and 6-0 Lauren Murray. They also out-scored the Eagles, 22-0, on fastbreak points.

“Our focus was to get inside tonight,” said Liles. “We kept attacking them all night. Twaddell is a great presence inside and a great shotblocker, but we kept taking it to her. She can’t play the whole game, so when she came out it began to open things up for us.”

Kelsey Hudson added 13 points and 6 rebounds. Lindsay Rice and Ashley Oakes each finished with 12 points, while West, Alyssa Ferdaszewski and Sarah Leathers all chipped in with 11 points. West had a game-high 14 rebounds, getting half of them on the offensive glass.

The Cougars nabbed an impressive 16 steals, including a game-high 5 from Leathers. They had 11 in the first half alone.

Twaddell led the Eagles with 24 points and 9 rebounds. Tristen Ryan was the only other Eagle to hit double-figures as she finished with 14, including 4 treys.