Westmont 82
AZUSA, Calif.-- Two good halves usually makes for one good game.
Even if it comes from 2 different players.
Alyssa Ferdaszewski scored 16 points in the first half to help Azusa Pacific jump out to a 10-point halftime lead, and then Monica Somers scored 17 second-half points to bring the Cougars home and lead the fourth-seed Cougars to an 89-82 win over fifth-seed Westmont in the opening round of the 2005 Golden State Athletic Conference Tournament Thursday in Azusa.
With the win, the NAIA's No. 16-ranked Azusa Pacific improves to 23-9 and advances to Saturday’s semifinals at Hope International against an opponent to be determined. It is the Cougars’ first GSAC Tournament win since winning the 2002 title on their home court. Westmont’s season comes to a close at 14-15.
“As many games as we can win will secure a better and better seed for us (at the national tournament),” said Azusa Pacific head coach Danelle Liles. “I thought we played well against Vanguard (on Tuesday) but lost, and to come back and get the momentum tonight was really important. We really needed this win.”
Ferdaszewski and Somers both finished with a team-high 23 points. The sophomore duo combined to shoot 14-of-19 from the field and 14-of-17 from the line.
Aside from trailing 3-2 in the early going, Azusa Pacific led the entire way, and for nearly 27 minutes Westmont made a game of it.
Every time the Cougars began to pull ahead, the Warriors made quick runs to get right back in the game, including in the second half when they used an 11-4 run to start the half to erase a 10-point halftime deficit.
All-GSAC Megan Fate led all players with 26 points (11-of-19 shooting). She hit her only bucket from downtown in the Warriors’ second half run.
The Cougars led 55-53 with 12:25 to play when Somers scored her first points of the second half with a lay-up. Just 1:37 later, she sank her only trey of the game to for the last of 9 straight Cougar points that pushed the lead up to 64-53 with 10:48 to play.
“Coach (Liles) told me they were playing for my drive so I just pulled back and hit it,” said Somers, referring to her key 3-pointer. “I wanted to win this one so badly. This win was huge.”
Meghan O’Donogue did her best to keep the Warriors in the game as she sank 5 from downtown to key her way to 20 points. Her final trey of the night pulled the Warriors within 6 (68-62) with 8:40 to play, but the Cougars scored 14 of the next 18 points, 10 of which came from Somers, to give the Cougars their largest lead (82-66) with 5:02 to play. Westmont got no closer than 7, the final margin.
“They kept playing a man on us, and Monica does really well against man-to-man defense,” said Liles. “She was reading the defense and did a really good job. Those who were guarding her weren’t able to keep up with her. She hit a couple of key outside shots, and that really helped her penetration.”
Azusa Pacific used a 16-3 run over a 4-minute stretch late in the first half to seemingly blow the game open. The Cougars led 17-15 when Ferdaszewski buried one of her 3 first-half treys to get things started.
Ferdaszewski scored all 16 of her first-half points in the first 15 minutes of the game.
Westmont sandwiched a free throw and Megan Fate jumper between a pair of Lindsay Rice free throws before Sarah Leathers hit her only 3-pointer of the half for the first 3 of 11 straight Cougar points. Somers’ conventional 3-point play with 6:06 remaining gave the Cougars a 33-18 lead, their largest of the game to that point.
The Cougars forced Westmont into 21 turnovers, 11 of them by the starting backcourt of Fate and O’Donogue. They converted them into 23 points.
“We finally decided to play together on defense,” said Liles. “We really picked up defense which picked up our offense. We’re always looking for improvement. I thought we did a decent job tonight. I thought we played a good game, and we played hard.”
Five Cougars reached double-figures. Kelsey Hudson, who was coming off a career-high 33 points in Tuesday’s loss to Vanguard, finished with 13 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Lindsey West added 12, and Sarah Leathers chipped in with 10 points and 3 assists.
