Azusa Pacific 85
AZUSA, Calif.-- Two-time defending NAIA champion and No. 3-ranked Southern Nazarene (Okla.) scored 15 of the game’s first 17 points and never looked back in posting a 96-85 win over No. 15 Azusa Pacific on the second day of the 2004 GSAC Challenge.
With the win, Southern Nazarene improves to 11-1 with its sixth straight win, including a win over No. 8 The Master’s yesterday. Azusa Pacific has its 7 game winning streak snapped and falls to 10-3.
The Crimson Storm came out storming burying their first 7 shots in the first 3 minutes before the Cougars fought back to within 7 (23-16) on a pair of Sarah Leathers free throws with 10:50 to play. From, there, the Cougars went stone cold missing 9 of their next 11 shots as the Crimson Storm reeled off a 24-4 run capped by back-to-back Jamie Morgan treys to open up a 47-20 lead with 3:05 to play. Leathers 3-pointer with 18 seconds left finished a mini-Cougar 12-6 run that got the deficit down to 21 (53-32) before settling for the 22-point halftime deficit.
Tournament MVP Khady Ngom led all players with 35 points and combined with 24 in yesterday’s win over The Master’s sets a GSAC Challenge record with 59 points in 2 games. She was nearly perfect from the floor hitting 14-of-18 shots. She also grabbed a team-high 9 rebounds.
Morgan finished with 22 points, including 4 treys. Katie Snodgrass added 18 points and 8 assists. As a team, the Crimson Storm never cooled shooting 58.5% (38-for-65).
The Cougars shot just 37.5% (24-for-64), including an icy 27.6% (8-for-29) in the first half. The cold shooting caused them to fall in a deep hole from which they never climbed out. They trailed by 20 (84-64) with 7:07 remaining and used a 21-11 run to close within 10 (95-85) with 49 seconds left.
Kelsey Hudson, who was named to the All-Tournament team, led Azusa Pacific with 26 points and 9 rebounds. Jaclyn Rice and Alyssa Ferdaszewski each finished with 14 points, while Leathers chipped in with 13.
All-Tournament Team
Kelsey Hudson--Azusa Pacific
Lisa Faulkner--Vanguard
Kelly Schmidt--Vanguard
Sadio Sangare’--Oklahoma City
Tiffany Webb--The Master’s
Most Valuable Player
Khady Ngom--Southern Nazarene
