Azusa Pacific 62
JACKSON, Calif. -- Considering last year Azusa Pacific finished 11-21 and was on the outside looking in, there’s something to be taken away from this.
For nearly 40 minutes, the Cougars battled and at times looked ready to pull off a shocker, but in the end No. 8-ranked (and No. 2-seed) North Georgia St. held off a 40-minute challenge by the seventh-seeded Cougars for a 66-62 victory in the fourth game of the 24th Annual NAIA Division I Women’s Basketball Tournament.
The loss ends the Cougars’ season at 20-12 and marks the fifth straight time they suffered a first-round defeat. North Georgia moves to the second round and improves to 29-5.
Azusa Pacific opened up an early 15-7 lead less than 7 minutes into the game and held a 1-point (36-35) halftime lead. However, North Georgia, which is making its eighth tournament appearance, opened the second half with a 10-2 spurt, capped by a 4-point play by Raena Ellis, to take its largest lead, 45-38, with 16:18 to play.
Marie Dyk finished with 15 points in her final collegiate game, and she scored 10 of them, including a pair of treys, in a 10-2 Cougar run over a 5:20 span that tied the game at 48-48 with 10:58 to play—the first of 4 second half ties.
Each time it appeared the Saints were set to take control, the Cougars battled back to tie the game, the final time coming on a Monica Somers basket that tied the game at 57-57 with 4:33 to play.
Angelyn Love, who led the Saints with 15 points, then answered with back-to-back buckets to push the Saints’ advantage back up to 4 (61-57) with 2:41 remaining. Dyk answered with her third and final trey of the night to cut the deficit down to 1 (61-60) with 1:45 left.
Brandi Owen gave the Saints a 3-point advantage (63-60), before Dyk missed a game-tying trey. Jeanine Dorminey then converted a 3-point play with 45 seconds left to put the game out of reach.
Lindsey West finished with 15 points, and Monica Somers chipped in with 11 points. The Cougars shot just 32% (24-for-75) from the floor and 16.7% (5-for-30) from beyond the arc. They also committed 22 turnovers and had just 6 assists.
