LA MIRADA, Calif. --- For close to 2 months, the NAIA’s No. 16-ranked Azusa Pacific has looked nearly unbeatable, winning 13 of its past 14 games. After a listless opening half in which it turned the ball over 14 times and did not shoot a single free throw, the Cougars made up for those lost 20 minutes with a high-flying second half to post a 74-59 road victory over Biola Tuesday evening at Chase Gymnasium.
Senior forward Meliame Hala’ufia scored 16 of her career-high 28 points in the second half, and she grabbed a career-high 14 rebounds as the Cougars returned to a successful formula that has lifted them into third place in the Golden State Athletic Conference at the halfway point of conference play. Junior forward Abby Johnson posted 16 points and 14 rebounds, marking the second straight game in which the tandem has each posted double-doubles, and the Cougars outscored Biola by a 45-25 margin after halftime.
“I didn’t expect this type of game at all,” said Hala’ufia, whose previous scoring career-high was 19 points, set Dec. 29 in a 115-89 win over Olivet Nazarene, and whose previous best rebounding performance was 12 rebounds in a Dec. 18 win over William Jewell. “I guess I just didn’t realize how many points I had until the end of the game. We really looked inside to the posts for both myself and Abby, and the guards did a good job passing the ball in to us. It felt almost like I would post up and it would almost be automatic, where all I had to do was turn and put it up.”
Biola broke a 9-9 tie early in the opening half with a 13-2 run, taking their largest lead of the half at 22-11 with just over 9 minutes remaining in the period, but Hala’ufia answered with back-to-back buckets to slow the Eagles’ momentum. Junior guard Kate Shipp’s running jumper in the closing seconds of the half clipped the halftime deficit to a manageable 5 points at 34-29.
“I thought we weren’t being smart with the ball, and we were being careless,” said Cougar head coach Danelle Bishop. “Nothing was crisp, and a lot of it was a lack of focus. I thought there was a little bit of inconsistency and we weren’t getting a few of the calls on our end in the first half.”
Nearly 4 minutes into the second half, junior guard Sarah Leathers knocked down a 3-pointer to give Azusa Pacific its first lead since the opening 5 minutes at 40-39. After trading baskets for the next 2 minutes, Leathers crashed the offensive boards to set Johnson up with a jumper from the top of the key with 12:52 remaining in the game. The basket not only tied the game at 44-44, it sparked a 12-2 Cougar run capped by a Hala’ufia jumper that pushed the lead to 54-46 with 9:38 left.
“I think we came together as a team in the second half, a lot better than we did in the first half,” said Hala’ufia. “We knew we had to get it done.”
Azusa Pacific led by at least 6 points the rest of the way before pushing the lead to double digits on a Johnson jumper with 5:35 to play, and the Cougar defense held Biola to just a single field goal over the final 6 minutes to seal the win.
“For the second half, we just said to come out, quit worrying about the calls and start going up strong,” said Bishop, “and I thought the girls did a good job taking it right at them. I didn’t feel like we were a second-half team before, but it feels like that the last couple weeks. I think we’re just digging down a little bit deeper in the second half. The fact that we’re not shooting the ball the greatest from the outside probably brings down our enthusiasm a little bit. If we could knock down some shots in the first half, it might help get us going a little bit more.”
Senior guard Monica Somers added 16 points for the Cougars, and for the second straight game, Johnson tallied 4 blocks to go with her sixth double-double of the season.
Biola was led by a 26-point, 13-rebound effort from Megann Alberts, and Kelsey Erickson added 12 points and 7 rebounds for the Eagles.
With the win, Azusa Pacific improves to 15-4 on the season, 7-3 in GSAC play, while Biola drops to 7-11 overall, 3-7 in GSAC. With the first round of the conference schedule complete, the Cougars catch each of the other top 4 teams in the standings at home, beginning with No. 10-ranked Point Loma Nazarene Friday night at 5:30 p.m. at the Felix Event Center.
