AZUSA, Calif. -- If you want to knock off the NAIA’s No. 16-ranked Azusa Pacific, a 32-point performance from your leading scorer would be a great place to start. Point Loma Nazarene could have used a pair of those performances Friday evening at the Felix Event Center, as Kerra Sutton-Wodarski’s season-best scoring performance was easily overshadowed by Azusa Pacific guard Monica Somers, who tallied a career-high 42 points to lead the Cougars to their 14th win in the past 15th games, a 78-69 upset of the No. 11-ranked Sea Lions.
“It just feels good because we won,” said Somers, who cracked the 30-point barrier for the third time this season. “If I scored 42 points in a loss, it wouldn’t have felt as good, and I’m so glad I can do that and have my team stand behind me, and we could get the victory against the number 11 team in the nation.”
The win avenges Azusa Pacific’s 74-69 loss to Point Loma Nazarene in the GSAC opener for both teams back in November, and lifts the Cougars to within a game of the Sea Lions in the conference standings.
“I felt like this was a good win,” said Cougar head coach Danelle Bishop. “They are a good team, they are very well-coached, and I thought we made a lot of adjustments. Obviously, (Sutton-Wodarski) was killing us early on, so we made some defensive adjustments that slowed her down where she didn’t score as much. (Point Loma) has had a lot of really close games they’ve won, and even though they started to make their run, our girls kept their poise. That’s a game we lost to them earlier in the season, but tonight we kept it all together.”
Somers’ 42-point torching of the Sea Lion defense was 1 point shy of the 18-year old Azusa Pacific single-game scoring record, and it also moved her into fourth on the Cougar career scoring charts with 1,540, passing the 1,508-point total of Catherine Solorio (1999-2002) and putting her within 222 points of third on the list. It was the 13th time she has led the Cougars in scoring in a game this season, and it tied the best individual scoring performance by a GSAC player over the past 5 seasons.
Incidentally, it was the second time in less than a month for that milestone to be reached on the Cougars’ home court, as California Baptist’s Nicole Davis poured in 42 points in the highest-scoring women’s basketball game in NAIA history Dec. 28 when the Lancers defeated Olivet Nazarene (Ill.), 122-119, in the 7th Annual GSAC Challenge hosted by Azusa Pacific.
It was also not the only record in danger of being toppled, as junior guard Sarah Leathers dished out her career-high 14th assist with just over 4 minutes remaining in the game and putting her within 1 of the Azusa Pacific single-game assist mark of 15, set in 1981 by Sheri Lazzarini.
“It’s not really me – an assist requires 2 people, so Monica shooting really well, and ‘Ame’s ability to work off the ball made my job much easier,” said Leathers, who also sank a pair of first-half 3-pointers to snap out of a shooting slump. “It made me more relaxed, because it’s been awhile since I’ve been able to hit like that, and then it opened up more gaps and made the game flow easier.”
The Cougars led by as many as 13 points in the second half, but Sutton-Wodarski capped an 8-0 run that brought the Sea Lions to within 3 points at 57-54 with 7:34 remaining in the game. Senior forward Meliame Hala’ufia answered with the last of her 12 points, but Sutton-Wodarski sank the back end of a pair of free throws, cutting the lead to 59-55 before Somers pushed the lead back to 61-55 with 6:40 to play.
After Point Loma Nazarene again climbed to within 3 points at 61-58, senior guard Alyssa Ferdaszewski traded 3-pointers with Meaghan McGuire before Somers scored 8 points of a 12-2 run that put the game out of reach at 76-63 with 1:47 remaining in the game.
Somers poured in 23 points in the first half, including 4 3-pointers, the first of which sparked a 14-4 run early in the half that turned a 3-point deficit into a 24-17 lead with 9:17 to play. After Point Loma Nazarene cut the lead to 24-21, Somers scored 12 straight points to lift the Cougars to a 36-21 lead and catapult her past Solorio into fourth place on the Azusa Pacific career scoring charts. The Sea Lions closed to within 8 points in the final minute of the half, but a Somers layup in the closing seconds lifted the Cougars to a 40-30 halftime advantage.
“I didn’t shoot 1 3-pointer (in pre-game warmups),” said Somers. “They were sagging off, so I figured I would just shoot. Once it started going in, I just don’t stop.”
Leathers went turnover-free and picked off 4 steals to lead the Cougar defensive effort, as well, and her 2 treys brought her to within 9 of the Azusa Pacific career 3-point record.
“Sarah hit a couple shots in the first half, and that helped her confidence,” said Bishop. “She’s a great shooter, and we want her to keep shooting, and I think it was good that she finally hit some. Sarah distributes the ball great, and I know her turnovers are usually very low. I thought she got pressured a lot, but I thought she attacked the gaps well and was able to dish off. She read that Monica was hot and kept hitting her. She just does a really good job seeing the floor.”
After Sutton-Wodarski torched the Cougars with 21 first-half points, Bishop switched Azusa Pacific’s defense into a box-and-one that successfully limited Sutton-Wodarski’s touches and scoring in the second half. She missed her first 2 shots and was held scoreless for the first 8 minutes of the second half. She finished with a game-high 11 rebounds, and Brittney Dove was the only other Point Loma Nazarene in double figures with 10 points.
With the win, Azusa Pacific improves to 16-4 on the season, 8-3 in GSAC play, while Point Loma Nazarene drops to 14-5 overall, 9-2 in GSAC. The Cougars get an opportunity to avenge 1 of their other 2 GSAC defeats when they host No. 24-ranked Westmont in a 5:30 p.m. contest Tuesday night.
