AZUSA, Calif. -- It would seem no lead is safe against the NAIA’s No. 16-ranked Azusa Pacific, which overcame an 11-point second-half deficit with less than 10 minutes to play, defeating visiting California Baptist 83-78 Saturday evening at the Felix Event Center. The come-from-behind win was the Cougars’ 12th win in their past 13 games, with the lone defeat coming by way of a tough 8-point road loss to top-ranked Vanguard.
Senior guard Monica Somers scored 3 straight Cougar baskets in less than 2 minutes, helping erase a 6-point Lancer lead and bring the Cougars to within a point at 77-76 with 2:57 to play in the game. After a California Baptist free throw, senior forward Meliame Hala’ufia put back a Somers miss to tie the game at 78-78 with 2:18 left. She scored again after junior guard Sarah Leathers followed her miss and senior guard Alyssa Ferdaszewski crashed the offensive glass after another Somers miss, giving the Cougars the lead for good at 80-78 with 1:18 left. Somers converted a 3-point play with 34 seconds left to provide the final margin.
“After struggling a little in our last 2 games, I thought we came back together at the end of tonight’s game,” said Hala’ufia. “Once we got the lead, we felt like there was no chance we were going to lose.”
Early in the second half, California Baptist used a 17-5 run to convert a 1-point deficit into their largest lead of the game at 69-58 with 9:36 remaining in the game. However, Leathers’ only trey of the game came at an opportune time, capping a 10-2 run over the next 2 minutes that brought the Cougars to within 71-68 with just over 7 minutes to play.
“I thought the turning point for us was when Sarah shot that 3 and missed, but got the jump ball,” said Somers. “We don’t always crash that well from the top, but Sarah got her hands into it, and that jump ball made it our possession. We scored and tied the game on that possession. For me, that was it, because I knew right then that no one was giving up and that we all had the heart that we all wanted to win.”
A pair of Brandie McCann free throws and an Erin Greenberg 3-pointer in the next minute gave the Lancers some more breathing room at 76-68 with just over 6 minutes left, but junior forward Abby Johnson blocked a Nicole Davis shot on the Lancers’ next possession, and Ferdaszewski converted the fast break for a bucket.
“It’s a new game in the second half,” said Ferdaszewski, who scored all 15 of the Cougars’ bench points. “I don’t care if we’re down by 11 with 10 minutes to go, we are not going to lose. Honestly, I didn’t realize we were down by as much as we were, I just knew we needed to get some stops.”
Somers converted the next 2 possessions for Azusa Pacific after the Cougars rebounded Lancer misses, and Somers brought the Cougars to within a point at 77-76 after taking a steal coast-to-coast for the layup.
“We crashed really hard, and we had some key defensive boards, especially during the last 6 minutes of the game,” said Cougar head coach Danelle Bishop. “I thought we played really hard, and even though their record doesn’t reflect it, I think Cal Baptist is a really good team. To stay poised and confident through the end of the game was huge for us.”
When Somers missed on the Cougars’ next possession, Hala’ufia was there to clean the offensive glass and get the game-tying putback with 2:18 to play.
Somers finished with 17 points, while Hala’ufia and Johnson each recorded double-doubles to lead the Cougars to a 60-38 domination of the glass. Hala’ufia collected 16 points and 11 rebounds, while Johnson finished with game-highs of 21 points, 15 rebounds and 4 blocks. Despite a 1-for-10 shooting night, Leathers dished out a game-high 11 assists for the Cougars.
“They started collapsing on our posts, and when Sarah hit that 3, it forced them to come back out to the perimeter a little bit more,” said Somers. “We started attacking at the end, and we were fearless. We weren’t just settling for being tied, we wanted to be up the whole time and win.”
California Baptist got off to a quick start, knocking down 5 of its first 8 3-pointers of the opening half, the last of which came off the fingertips of Megan Bradford to spot the Lancers their largest lead of the half at 31-21 with 9:20 remaining in the half. Azusa Pacific answered with a 13-4 run over the next 5 minutes to close the gap to 35-34 with 4:34 to play.
“In the beginning of the game, we weren’t reversing the ball and looking inside, because once we started throwing it inside and out and moving it around and making their defense move it helped us,” said Johnson. “We also weren’t getting outside onto their 3-point shooters.”
The Lancers were led by Brandie McCann and Jessica Fisiikava, who each tallied 15 points, and Erin Greenberg and Megan Bradford each knocked down 4 3-pointers to finish with 14 points apiece.
With the win, Azusa Pacific improves to 14-4 on the season, 6-3 in GSAC play, while California Baptist drops to 11-7 overall, 3-6 in GSAC. The Cougars wrap up the first round of the conference schedule when they visit Biola Tuesday night.
