IRVINE, Calif. – The new year yielded the same result.
In the 55th all-time meeting between the former Golden State Athletic Conference rivals, the Cougars extended their winning streak against Concordia to 15 games with a 98-79 win on Tuesday evening.
The victory increases the Cougars PacWest victorious ways to four straight as they move to 10-2 overall and remain undefeated against league foes. Only Hawaii Pacific and Academy of Art remain unbeaten in conference games.
Entering the game as the 24th ranked team in the recent WBCA national poll, the Cougars flirted with a 50 percent shooting effort the entire evening before finally converting 31 of their 61 field goal attempts to open 2016. Azusa Pacific scored at least 90 points for the third time this season. Tuesday's scoring output set the season high mark.
"It was rough in the early going but once we got into a semblance of rhythm I was fairly happy with the way we executed. We still have room for improvement," said head coach T.J. Hardeman. "I'm really pleased with how we how shot from the foul line and with the way Cydnie Jones and Allison Greene ran the offense."
Kelly Hardeman scored a team best 23 points on the strength of a 9-for-14 shooting effort from the floor in 31 minutes. The senior hit a game high five shots from behind the arc.
Both Cydnie Jones and Allison Greene toyed with a triple-double before being pulled late in the game. Jones scored 17 points with eight rebounds and six assists while Greene recorded a 10-point, seven-rebound, seven-assist performance.
As a team the Cougars were nearly spotless from the charity stripe as they converted 87.5 percent (28-for-32) of their attempts. They sent season highs for foul shots made and free throw percentage.
Azusa Pacific never trailed in the opening 10 minutes but couldn't get more than two possessions of separation as they held a 21-17 edge at the period break. The Golden Eagles kept themselves in the game in the first quarter by converting eight of their 10 attempts from the foul line as the Cougars limited the home team to just a 28.6 percent shooting effort.
Aided by a 6-of-9 shooting performance to start the second quarter, the Cougars held a 41-29 lead with just under three minutes left until halftime. During the spurt, Hardeman scored 12 of her squad's 20 points. Azusa Pacific nudged their double figure lead to 48-34 at the halftime break.
The game was put out of reach in the opening minutes of the third quarter. Azusa Pacific scored seven of the frame's first nine points to increase their lead to 55-36 forcing the home team into a timeout. Azusa Pacific grew their lead to 73-48 as the horn sounded to end the third quarter. In the final quarter the Cougars continued to hold a comfortable lead and never let the PacWest newcomers within 13 points to seal the victory.
Azusa Pacific welcomes Dixie State to the Felix Event Center on Thursday evening for their first home game of 2016.
