FULLERTON, Calif. -- Senior guard Monica Somers scored 22 of her game-high 32 points in the second half, breaking a 28-28 halftime deadlock to lead the NAIA’s No. 24-ranked Azusa Pacific to a 75-59 road win over Hope International Tuesday night. Her 14-of-17 performance from the free throw line gave her 487 career free throws, breaking the 17-year old program record of 476 previously held by Amy Walter (1987-90).
In addition to the free throw record, Somers moved past Kelly Speas (1996-99) into seventh place on the Cougar career scoring chart with 1,395 points.
Somers was the only Cougar to score in double figures, and it was her second 30-point performance of the season and her 9th time in 13 games reaching 20 points or more. Midway through the second half with Azusa Pacific leading 50-44, Somers scored the last 9 points of a 20-2 run that gave the Cougars their largest lead of the game at 70-46 with 4:51 remaining in the game.
Azusa Pacific committed a season-low 15 turnovers, and junior guard Sarah Leathers came up with a game-high 6 of the Cougars’ 13 steals, coming up with 5 of them to help forge a tie game at the half despite Azusa Pacific’s 30 percent shooting clip (10-for-33) in the first half. The Cougars led for the first and last 4 minutes of the first half, but after junior guard Kate Shipp’s layup with 3:24 to go gave Azusa Pacific a 28-24 lead, Hope International forced a pair of turnovers and the Cougars missed their final 4 shots of the half. Hope International’s Jasmine Nault scored a pair of baskets in the final 2 minutes to tie the game at 28-28.
Leathers opened up the second half with a 3-pointer on the opening possession, and Azusa Pacific never trailed again. Up 38-33 after senior forward Meliame Hala’ufia’s only basket of the game 4 minutes into the second half, Somers single-handedly maintained the Cougars’ lead over the next 3 minutes, answering a Nault bucket with one of her own for a 40-35 lead, then answering a Sarah Nylander 3-pointer with her second trey of the game on the ensuing possession to hold the 5-point lead at 43-38 with 14:19 left.
Back-to-back baskets by junior forward Abby Johnson and Shipp answered a Royals basket that had cut the lead to 43-40, and the Cougars began their run just over a minute later to put the game away.
Somers finished 8-of-12 from the field, and she knocked down 14-of-17 free throws, including 11-of-13 in the second half, to lead all scorers with 32 points, her highest output since registering a career-high 36 points in a 73-61 win over William Jewell (Mo.) Dec. 18. Leathers finished with 9 points and a team-high 5 assists, and Johnson added 9 points and a game-high 9 rebounds for the Cougars, who posted a 46-37 rebounding edge over the Royals. Shipp was the game’s leading scorer off the bench with 7 points.
Hope International was led by Nylander’s 18 points, while Nault added 16 points a a team-high 8 rebounds. Allison Wulff scored 10 points and registered 4 blocks and 2 steals for the Royals.
With the win, Azusa Pacific runs its winning streak to 8 games and improves to 2-2 in GSAC play, 10-3 overall. Hope International drops to 1-3 in GSAC, 6-6 overall. The Cougars continue with GSAC play when they host San Diego Christian (3-6, 0-3 GSAC) Thursday at 5:30 p.m.
