AZUSA, Calif. – After overcoming a slow start the Cougars responded to eek out hard fought 76-71 win against Cal State L.A. on Tuesday evening.
In their season home debut Azusa Pacific moves to 3-0 for the second straight season. Leading the efforts were a pair of upper class players as senior Kelly Hardeman (18 points, 13 rebounds) and junior Maggie Dumphy (11 points, 10 rebounds) each posted a double-double.
"After coming off a few rough shooting nights, I was trying to slow my game down and I take shots that were more high percentage," Kelly Hardeman said. "For us to continue to win we have to crack down more on defense. We have the skill we just need to execute it."
Also of significant individual note was the play of guard Joelle Tampein. The sophomore came off the bench to score 18 points on the strength of three made shots from behind the arc and a team best five made free throws.
"They did a good job of hitting shots early on and we didn't do a great job of getting our hands up in front of their shooters and making them take contested shots. What I did like is we were running hard and making them respond to that. We made them play at our pace," said head T.J. Hardeman. "Initially they started to drive us back and once we started to play better defense we got blocked shots and made things more difficult for them offensively."
The Cougars used an outstanding second quarter to make an early 24-19 deficit into a 10-point (46-36) lead at the game's intermission. Azusa Pacific took the lead for good in opening half just past the second quarter's midway point. Trailing 29-24 with 7:21 left until halftime, the Cougars concluded the stanza on an 11-3 to grab their double figure edge. The final shot of the half came when Allison Greene took a 25-footer at the buzzer that found nothing but net.
Cal State L.A. quickly erased their deficit as they scored 15 of the third quarter's first 17 points; grabbing a 51-48 edge. The remainder of the frame was played evenly as the teams went into the final 10 minutes knotted at 58-58.
Azusa Pacific was able to regain their lead early in the fourth stanza and stretched their edge to 73-66 with just over three minutes left. With just over a minute left the Franeka Hall nailed a three-pointer to bring Cal State L.A. within 73-71. On the Cougars ensuing possession Greene hit a running lay-up on a second change opportunity then the Golden Eagles turned it over on their next opportunity with 13 seconds left. Cal State L.A. had a three pointer bounce off the rim with a few ticks left and Miriam Zabinsky secured the rebound and win.
The Cougars host a pair of critical early season region games on Friday and Saturday as they take on Western Washington and Seattle Pacific.
