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Azusa Pacific University Athletics

The Online Home of the Azusa Pacific Cougars
Audrey Sayoc
52
Cal Poly Humboldt HSU 1-3,0-0 CCAA
80
Winner Azusa Pacific APU 5-0,0-0 PacWest
Cal Poly Humboldt HSU
1-3,0-0 CCAA
52
Final
80
Azusa Pacific APU
5-0,0-0 PacWest
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Cal Poly Humboldt HSU 17 8 16 11 52
Azusa Pacific APU 24 11 30 15 80

Game Recap: Women's Basketball |

Test Run Going Well

AZUSA, Calif. – When Azusa Pacific Coach TJ Hardeman expressed some reservation about the coming 24-25 season, he earned the right to question.  Afterall, the dean of PacWest coaches and the winningest coach in APU women's basketball history knew what he was talking about because of 20 seasons of college coaching.

With 3 starters gone from his 3-time reigning PacWest championship program, Hardeman chose to revamp the Cougar attack for the new season, opting for a pedal-to-the-metal offense with a full-court trapping defense to take advantage of the Cougars' athleticism and hide their lack of girth.  It was a significant change to the Cougar scheme, and admittedly, Hardeman wasn't sure if he'd stick with this new system or toss it out of the window after a short test.

So far, the test run is working quite well, and Hardeman will gladly keep his hands on the steering wheel.

Azusa Pacific is off to its best start in 5 years, pushing its early-season record to a perfect 5-0 after running past a dogged Cal Poly Humboldt, 80-52, Tuesday evening in the Felix Event Center.  The victory is the Cougars' second-straight 20-point decision and its third of the young season.  Indeed, the engine is running high so far.

Reigning PacWest Player of the Year Kelly Heimburger led Azusa Pacific with a season-high 26 points, and freshman Rachel Roderick came off the bench to enjoy her finest game as a collegian, tallying 12 points and a blocked shot in 13 minutes of play.

Azusa Pacific used a 19-5 run from the close of the second quarter through the start of the third quarter to assume a hefty 48-30 lead following an Amayah Kirkman lay-up less than 4 minutes into the second half. From there the rest of the game was academic, as the Cougar defense, which forced a season-high 25 Lumberjack turnovers, induced Cal Poly into missing 11 of its final 14 shots.

After draining 45 treys through the first 4 games, the Cougars instead had to rely on its game played around the basket tonight, after making just 7-of-18 shots from the 3-point arc.  They registered 40 points in the paint.

"Humboldt's guards are good, and they did a fine job forcing us to lean on our interior game," said Hardeman.  "On a night that we didn't shoot well from the perimeter, we found offense in other areas."

The primary area of offense was Heimburger, who after missing 2 of her first 3 shots, made 8 of her next 12 shots, including a trio of 3-pointers, to spearhead the Cougar offense.  The Cougars scored 30 third-quarter points, nearly matching all of their scoring in the first half when they edged out to a 35-25 lead.

It was a typical third frame for the Cougars who have out-scored their opponents by whopping 123-72 margin in the third quarter this season.  Roderick, the rookie all-state player out of Red Rock High in Sedona, Ariz., scored 8 points in the third quarter as Azusa Pacific expanded its lead to 65-41.

Senior Sabrina Belquist added 10 points off the Cougar bench.

With the loss, Cal Poly Humboldt, which was led by Kendall Pickford's 15 points, falls to 1-3 on the season.

Now at 5-0, the Cougars tonight logged career win No. 450 for Hardeman.  The 2019-20 Cougars opened that season at 7-0, the best start by any APU team in the past 45 years. 
 
 
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