SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- Monica Somers scored a team-high 18 points, 14 of them from the free throw line, to key the NAIA’s No. 11-ranked Azusa Pacific to a 68-60 road GSAC win at Westmont Tuesday night.

The win is the Cougars’ fifth in a row, the second longest winning streak of the season, and improves them to 18-5 overall, 10-2 GSAC. Westmont suffers its third loss in the past 4 games and falls to 10-10, 7-5.

Although Somers struggled from the floor, going just 2-for-9, she was clutch at the free throw line. One of the GSAC’s top free throw shooters the past 2 seasons, Somers hit a career-high 14 in 16 attempts.

And even more impressively, she hit 6 of them during what turned out to be the game-clinching surge.

Westmont took a 53-52 lead with 8:31 to play on a trey by Megan O’Donogue when the Cougars answered with an 8-point flurry over the next 2:13 to open a 60-53 lead they would not relinquish. Somers hit all 6 of her attempts at the charity stripe, starting the run with 4 straight, and then finishing the run with a pair after a Sarah Leathers’ lay-up.

The Warriors got within 4 points just 50 seconds later, but Somers again answered, this time with a jumper to push the lead back up to 6 with 3:35 remaining. Julia Morrow made 1-of-2 free throws with 3:05 remaining, but the Cougars took advantage of 2 offensive rebounds on their next possession to put the game away. Lindsay Rice and Somers hit 4 straight free throws to give the Cougars their largest lead, 66-57, with 2:10 to play.

Westmont took a 22-17 lead with 5:22 to play on O’Donogue’s first 3-pointer of the night, but the Cougars quickly responded with a 16-4 spurt over a 3:23 span to open up a 33-26 lead and seemingly take control.

Kelsey Hudson was the only other Cougar to hit double-figures as she finished with 10 points and 9 rebounds.

Alyssa Ferdaszewski and Ashley Oakes hit back-to-back treys that keyed the first half run in which Ferdazsewski scored 7 points. Hudson then hit back-to-back buckets to cap the run, but the Cougars went scoreless in the final 1:59 as the Warriors scored 7 straight to force a 33-33 tie at the break.

GSAC Player of the Week Lindsey West finished with 9 points and 5 rebounds, hitting all 4 of her field goals. Megan Fate led Westmont with a game-high 17 points.