Down as many as 17 points, Azusa Pacific nearly completed a miraculous comeback but fell short to Hawai'i Pacific 73-69 in a key midseason PacWest contest.

The win lifts the Sharks to the outright lead in the league standings as they move to 14-2 overall and 8-1 in conference games. The 15th ranked Cougars fall to 18-3 and 9-2 respectively.

HOW IT HAPPENED: Despite committing 13 turnovers in the opening two quarters, Hawai'i Pacific shot 60 percent (15-for-25) from the floor in building a 42-27 lead at intermission. In addition, the visitors held the Cougars to nine made field goals on their 30 attempts (30 percent).

Hawai'i Pacific took a 17-point lead during the early stages of the third quarter and for all intensive purposes looked to be in complete control. However, the Cougars continued to fight back and got their deficit down to a workable margin with just under five minutes left in the contest.

Azusa Pacific pulled within two points on three occasions but only had one possession to either tie or take the lead. The opportunity came with 19 seconds left. After Samantha Lambrigtsen made one of two foul shots to give the Sharks a 72-69 lead, Azusa Pacific worked the offense and got a three-point attempt from Casey Wortley. Her shot with five seconds left was blocked and the Sharks secured the rebound and sealed the game with a free throw.

QUOTABLE: "We did not match their intensity. They played harder and tougher than we did and they deserved to win the game," head coach T.J. Hardeman said. "Our execution on offense was not good. We didn't do what we needed to do to get open. We needed to run our offense much better."

INSIDE THE BOXSCORE

- Hawai'i Pacific shot 51.1 percent from the field while the Cougars hit 36.5 percent of their attempts
- Azusa Pacific won the points off turnover battle by a 24-15 count after forcing the Sharks into 23 turnovers
- Abbigail Goodsell score nine of her team high 15 points in the final quarter
- Zoe March (13) and Samantha Huddleston (12) rounded out the double figure scorers for Azusa Pacific

PACWEST IMPLICATIONS: The Sharks take the outright conference lead. Azusa Pacific is a game back in the loss column. Azusa Pacific is one game in front of Dominican in the loss column in the second place position. Hawai'i Pacific and Azusa Pacific meet again on Feb. 22 in Honolulu.

UP NEXT: The Cougars travel to Point Loma on Saturday for a 2:00 p.m. contest with the Sea Lions.