SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – No. 18 Azusa Pacific was beaten on the road by Dominican on Monday afternoon, falling by an 87-79 final score. The Cougars drop to 10-3 overall, and 5-1 in PacWest play.
Kelly Heimburger grabbed a career-high 17 rebounds to go along with 16 points, as she was one of four Cougars to score in double figures, led by 19 points from TyLee Manuel, followed by 15 points apiece from Alex Lowden and Paige Uyehara. Lowden and Uyehara each had four steals in the game, and Lowden finished with a season-high seven assists.
How It Happened: The Cougars were on the attack from the jump, which allowed them to race out to a 22-6 lead over the first seven minutes of action. The Penguins were able to slow the Cougars' offense just a bit over the remainder of the third, pulling with 11 at 25-14 heading into the second. In the first quarter, Azusa Pacific shot 53% from the floor, including 4-for-7 from three, and the Cougars were able to push the pace, scoring 13 points in transition over the first 10 minutes.
Nearly halfway through the second quarter, Lauren Jones knocked down a triple to match the Cougars' largest lead of the game up to that point at 35-19, but Dominican was able to put together a 9-2 run over the next three minutes to draw within single digits at 37-28 with 2:07 to go before halftime. Over the final two minutes, Azusa Pacific would hold Dominican scoreless, while a TyLee Manuel layup and an Amayah Kirkman three sent the Cougars into the halftime break with a 42-28 advantage. The Cougars finished the first half of the contest with a shooting percentage of 53% (16-for-30) overall, including 7-for-14 from distance.
While the Cougars were able to keep their lead at three possessions or more for most of the first seven minutes of play in the third quarter, Dominican started to build momentum to close out the period, cutting Azusa Pacific's lead down to just three points, at 57-54, heading into the fourth and final quarter.
The Penguins took their first lead of the contest on a three-pointer from Alaiyah San Juan that made it 62-61 (5:59), and from that point on, there were four lead changes and four ties over the remainder of the fourth quarter. Following a made free throw by Manuel that put the Cougars up 78-76 with 23 seconds on the clock, San Juan came through again for Dominican, as she drove the lane and scored a game-tying layup with 15 seconds left. Azusa Pacific was unable to score on the final possession of regulation, sending the game to overtime.
Dominican opened overtime on a 6-0 run, and the Cougars would only score one point over the extra five minutes of action, securing the Penguins' 87-79 victory.
By The Numbers: One stat in particular told the story of the game for the Cougars, as Azusa Pacific committed 28 turnovers in the loss, which is a season-high. Dominican turned those Cougar miscues into 28 points off of turnovers. In addition to the Cougar turnovers, Dominican also capitalized on the offensive glass, as the Penguins turned 12 offensive rebounds into 20 second chance points.
Up Next: The Cougars will now have a break for Christmas, before returning to the hardwood to resume PacWest play with a home game on Thursday, January 5 against Fresno Pacific at 5:15 pm in the Felix Event Center.
