AZUSA, Calif. – Azusa Pacific won its sixth consecutive game on Saturday afternoon, defeating visiting Notre Dame de Namur 71-43.
 
Four Cougars reached double-figures in scoring, led by Daylee Hanson's 16 points. Joining her in double figures was Savanna Hanson (11), Molly Whitmore (13) and Paige Uyehara (10). Whitmore collected six rebounds to lead Azusa Pacific on the boards, while Zoe March tallied a team-high four assists. Defensively, the Cougars had four different players with three steals each; Daylee Hanson, Cierra Roufosse, Paige Uyehara, and Alex Lowden. Azusa Pacific had 16 steals in the game.
 
Though the Cougars held the lead for much of the first half, the Argonauts seemed to hang around and not let Azusa Pacific's advantage get out of hand. With two minutes remaining before halftime, the Cougars were up 24-16. Notre Dame de Namur was looking to cut the deficit down to grab some momentum heading into the break, but the Cougars' freshman duo of Whitmore and Uyehara had other plans for the visitors. Uyehara extended Azusa Pacific's lead to double-digits with a layup in which she was also fouled, that made it 26-16 with 1:47 remaining in the second quarter. Uyehara would hit the ensuing free-throw for the classic three-point play, growing the Cougar lead to 27-16. Uyehara was right back in the middle of the action, as she stole the ball on the ensuing Argonauts possession to give Azusa Pacific a chance to stretch the advantage further. On that possession, the ball found Whitmore who was able to lay the ball up and add to the lead at 29-16. The Argonauts answered with a three to make it 29-19, but Whitmore answered right back and knocked down a triple of her own to make it a 13-point game at 32-20 with 30 seconds remaining in the half. Whitmore would add another three-pointer before halftime with a little under five seconds left, sending the Cougars into the locker room up 35-20. Over the final two minutes, the freshmen combined for 11 points to put Azusa Pacific up double digits. Whitmore finished the game 3-for-3 from beyond-the-arc, as she hit a three in the second half as well.
 
In the third quarter, the Argonauts hung around as they fell down 19 points but battled back to make it a 13 point deficit heading into the final quarter of play. Over the final 10 minutes of action, Azusa Pacific put its foot on the gas and did not let up, as the Cougars outscored Notre Dame de Namur 28-13 in the fourth quarter. In the fourth, Azusa Pacific shot 57% from the floor (12-for-21) while holding the Argonauts to just 24% shooting (4-for-17).
 
Azusa Pacific was in a full-court press for nearly the entire contest, and the defensive pressure applied by the Cougars resulted in 23 turnovers by the Argonauts. "We are 10 deep with our roster, so we can apply pressure throughout the game," said head coach T.J. Hardeman, "we wanted to speed them up and keep going after them, which we did for the most part tonight." Azusa Pacific was able to tally 17 points off of turnovers.
 
The Cougars were also dominant in the paint, finishing with 40 points from inside the lane compared to just 20 for Notre Dame de Namur. Azusa Pacific also had 29 bench points, in large part to the production received from Whitmore and Uyehara. Whitmore and Uyehara were near the top in plus/minus for the game, as Whitmore shared the lead with Zoe March for +25, while Uyehara was just behind with +24.
 
With the victory, Azusa Pacific is now 15-3 overall, and 9-3 in conference play. The Cougars are currently third in the PacWest. Azusa Pacific now has a week to prepare for the rematch of the Cornerstone Cup, this time, down in La Mirada against Biola. The Cougars claimed a dominant 85-46 victory just last week against Biola in Azusa. Currently, Azusa Pacific leads the overall Cornerstone Cup by a 40-20 tally.