HONOLULU – Champions again.
The Azusa Pacific women's basketball squad won their second PacWest championship after posting a 86-68 win against Chaminade on Saturday evening.
Azusa Pacific is recognized as the conference's co-champion after finishing with the same league record as Hawai'i Pacific. It is the second time in the five seasons the Cougars have competed in the PacWest they have won the conference's regular season title.
The win closes out the regular season for the 19th ranked Cougars who move to 27-3 overall while finishing league play at 18-2. Azusa Pacific enters the postseason on a nine-game winning streak.
HOW IT HAPPENED: Azusa Pacific never trailed in beating the Silverswords for the eighth time in the same number of all-time meetings. The Cougars continued to push their lead as the minutes ticked away. Azusa Pacific won each of the first three quarters.
They took a double figure lead with just under five minutes left in the second quarter and never let their lead fall beneath single digits. Midway through the fourth quarter the Cougars held their largest lead at 77-53 before cruising down the stretch for the victory.
From the floor the Cougars hit exactly half of their 60 field goal attempts while limiting the Silverswords (2-20, 2-18) to just a 39.7 shooting percent (23-for-58). Azusa Pacific forced the home team into 22 turnovers.
QUOTEABLE
Head Coach T.J. Hardeman … "It feels like we have unfinished business. Don't get me wrong though, it feels great to win the title. It was one of our goals. We have checked a goal off and get after the next goals. I think when we step back and look at this, we will say this is awesome. To get this title is a neat accomplishment that won't go away."
Senior Annanya Raghavan … "It feels great to win the title. I think this season with had some more ups and downs then when we won it two years ago. Either way to win two championships it shows how good this program is. We are going to enjoy this for a little bit because there are good things to come and to work for."
Sophomore Zoe March … "It is always a good feeling when all your hard is rewarded and it makes you excited to accomplish the next goal. We won this title with hard work and perseverance. There are more goals in front of us and we are ready to face those challenges."
INSIDE THE BOXSCORE
- Abbigail Goodsell scored a team high 27 points while Gabrielle Kaiser added a 20-point evening. Combined the duo went 17-for-30 from the field
- Savanna Hanson scored 10 points and grabbed a team best seven rebounds
- The Cougars held a 27-15 edge in points off turnovers
PACWEST CHAMPIONS NOTES: The Cougars won the 2015-16 PacWest title with a 19-1 league record. They shared that title with California Baptist. Azusa Pacific beat the Lancers in the PacWest tournament championship. Prior to this season the Cougars were picked as the league co-favorites with Point Loma.
PACWEST TOURNAMENT: The Cougars win the tiebreaker over Hawai'i Pacific for the tournament's No. 1 seed. The Cougars will play the winner of Concordia/Point Loma on Friday, March 2 at 2:45 p.m. The tournament will be played at California Baptist's Event Center in Riverside, Calif.
NCAA WEST REGION: Azusa Pacific is listed as the No. 2 team in the NCAA Division II West Region rankings. On Thursday Alaska Anchorage, the region's No. 1 seed, lost to Northwest Nazarene which opens the door the Cougars to retake the top position. The next rankings are released on Wednesday afternoon. The NCAA selection show is Sunday, March 4 at 7 p.m. (PST).
