IRVINE, Calif. – The Cougars are celebrating tonight as they keep a watchful eye on future goals.
The Cougars used a strong third quarter to push past California Baptist en route to a convincing 75-58 victory to claim the PacWest's tournament championship.
After clinching a share of the league regular season title with the third-ranked Lancers, the Cougars left little doubt who the top team in the conference is. Azusa Pacific is the only team to beat the Lancers this season as the champions up their record to 27-3 while California Baptist drops to 28-2. It is the most wins in a season for the Cougars since the 2010-11 campaign.
Post Game Press Conference
With the triumph Azusa Pacific wraps up the league's automatic qualifier to next week's NCAA Division II championship tournament. The Cougars will find out their opponent and location of that game during Sunday evening's selection show at 7 p.m. (PDT). The announcement will be streamed live on the NCAA.com website.
PacWest Championship Video Recap
Cydnie Jones played a huge role in leading the team to the title. The senior scored 10 points, dished out six assists and grabbed a game and personal best 15 rebounds as she was named the tournament's MVP. The performance was her fifth double-double of the season.
The Cougars also had two other starters record double-doubles. Maggie Dumphy (14 points, 10 rebounds) and Kelly Hardeman (11 points, 10 rebounds) posted their third and 12th double-double efforts of the season respectively.
Amid those efforts, Allison Greene had arguably the best day. Greene scored a game high 21 points and handed out six assists in 34 minutes.
A stout Azusa Pacific defense held the Lancers to a season low total for points and field goals made (22). California Baptist connected on just 30.6 percent of their field goal attempts. On the offensive side of the ball the Cougars stayed steady in each half as they made 45.7 and 48.3 percent respectively in the first and second frames.
During the late stages of the second quarter the Cougars started to put some separation on the scoreboard. Tied at 30-30 with three minutes left until halftime, Azusa Pacific scored the final eight points of the period punctuated by a Greene jumper at the buzzer.
Azusa Pacific took their first double digit lead of the game in the third quarter and eventually grew their lead to 54-38 as the stanza came to a close. The final 10 minutes were all but routine as the Cougars went up by as many as 21 points before clinching the 17-point victory.
