FULLERTON, Calif.-- Four days ago in the regular-season finale, Vanguard and Azusa Pacific battled to the wire before the Lions sneaked away with a 5-point win.

That was then. This is a new day.

The NAIA’s No. 2-ranked Vanguard jumped out to a 19-8 lead and never looked back to get a convincing 78-62 win over No. 16 Azusa Pacific in the semifinals of the 2005 GSAC Postseason Tournament in Fullerton.

With the loss, the Cougars fall to 23-10 overall and now must wait to see where they will end up in the final NAIA Coaches’ Poll of the season, which comes out Tuesday at 1 p.m. (PST). If they can stay in the top 25, they will likely earn an at-large berth to the 2005 NAIA National Tournament.

Vanguard, which won the regular-season conference crown earning the GSAC’s first automatic bid to the national tournament, advances to Tuesday’s night championship against Point Loma Nazarene, which locks up the GSAC’s second automatic bid by virtue of playing Vanguard in the finals. The Lions improve to 28-3.

Rachel Besse led all players, finishing with 24 points and 13 rebounds. The 6-3 All-GSAC center finished 10-of-17 from the field and scored 17 of her points in the second half.

Kelsey Hudson led Azusa Pacific with 14 points and 6 rebounds.

Hudson scored the first bucket of the game before Besse tied it to get the Lions rolling. GSAC Player of the Year Kelly Schmidt combined with Besse to score the Lions’ first 12 points in the first 5 minutes as the Lions led 12-4. Just 4 minutes later, the Lions opened up an 11-point lead and never led by less than 6 points the rest of the night.

Trailing 25-15 with 6:38 to play in the first half, Hudson hit back-to-back treys just 45 seconds apart to bring the Cougars within 6 (27-21). But Schmidt scored 5 of Vanguard’s next 7 points to give the Lions a 34-24 halftime lead.

Lindsay Rice hit a trey just 1:19 into the second half to bring the Cougars within 9 (38-29), but the Lions began to stretch their lead using a 14-5 run, getting 6 points from Lindsey Rinke and 4 each from Besse and Andrea Jacobson to take a 52-34 lead and control of the game with 13:53 to go.

The Cougar deficit never got within single digits the rest of the way.

Alyssa Ferdaszewski and Jaclyn Rice both aadded 11 points. Schmidt finished with 16, and Jacobson and Rinke finished with 11 and 10, respectively.

After combining for 22 three-pointers on Tuesday night, the Cougars and Lions shot a combined 5-for-31 from beyond the arc, all 5 coming from the Cougars. Nevertheless, the Cougars shot just 37% (20-for-54) from the floor.