HILO, Hawaii – If you are going to celebrate a conference title, Hawaii isn't a bad place.
Azusa Pacific wrapped up their regular season with a 64-47 victory against Hawaii-Hilo to secure the PacWest championship.
It is the first conference title for the program since the 2010-11 season they claimed the Golden State Athletic Conference championship. It is the 13th conference title for the Cougars.
With the win Azusa Pacific, who entered the game ranked 17th in the nation, ends the regular season with a 25-3 overall record and a 19-1 mark in league games. It is the most conference wins ever for the Cougars; who have played a 20-game conference schedule in 14 of the last 16 seasons.
"This is not a small deal. It has been a goal and when you reach a goal we will celebrate. I feel like we earned this championship. Just to persevere over that long time period is a testament to the depth and talent of this team," said head coach T.J. Hardeman. "We have many contributors on this team because we have so many weapons. Tonight, we didn't play good offensive but we did a great job defensively. To hold them to just 47 on their court is proof of that."
Azusa Pacific heads to next week's conference tournament at Concordia University as either the No. 1 or No. 2 seed. Since the Cougars tied California Baptist for the regular season title, the tiebreaker procedures still have the squads tied in the race for the No. 1 seed. The third tiebreakers dictate that the NCAA West Regional rankings who will be the top seed which will be released on Wednesday.
Kelly Hardeman was the story, once again, for the Cougars offense. The senior scored a game high 25 points on the strength of an 11-of-20 shooting effort. She also grabbed eight rebounds.
Cydnie Jones went for 12 points while Maggie Dumphy produced another solid effort with a seven-point, nine-rebound performance.
Defensively the Cougars forced Hawaii Hilo (10-15, 10-10) into 23 turnovers which they converted into 20 points. Conversely the home team had just two points off of Azusa Pacific miscues.
In the early stages the offensives were in control as both teams were hitting over half of their field goal attempts. Each team cooled offensively as the game continued. Down 21-19, a Kelly Hardeman three-pointer just before the midway point of the second quarter gave the Cougars a 24-21 lead and help spark the squad. Azusa Pacific score nine unanswered points to conclude the run. As the teams headed into the locker room, the Cougars held a 28-22 lead.
Looking to put some separation between them and the Vulcans, Azusa Pacific took their first double figure lead of the night (38-27) when Greene nailed a jumper with 6:01 left in the third quarter. The Cougars methodically grew their lead and entering the final quarter they held a 47-32 advantage.
In the fourth quarter Azusa Pacific took a 20-point lead (57-37) when Hardeman scored her 20th point of the game with 6:44 left. The Vulcans never got their deficit into single digits.
