by Kristilyn Hetherington
HONOLULU, Hawai’i – On Wednesday night, Azusa Pacific secured their second win of their three-game trip to Hawai’i with a dominant 72-57 win over Hawai’i Pacific. The team is now 15-3 overall and 10-1 in PacWest play. With a five-game winning streak going, the Cougars currently sit atop the Conference rankings.
Molly Whitmore led the charge with 15 points while grabbing seven boards. She was accompanied by Paige Uyehara who had 14 points and four assists and Amayah Kirkman collected 13 points of her own.
How it Happened: The Cougars took the lead right away with a 9-0 run within the first three minutes of the game. That lead was then extended to 16-2 as Kelly Heimburger would go on to score her second three-pointer of the quarter followed by a layup from both Uyehara and Whitmore. With 1:22 left on theclock in the first quarter, Alex Lowden knocked down another triple to round out the scoring and give the Cougars’ a 19-6 lead heading into the second quarter.
Within the first two minutes of the second quarter, Lauren Jones scored a three-pointer followed by a layup from Kirkman to extend the Cougars’ lead to 26-6. Across the next few minutes,the Sharks would go on to score four free throws but the Cougars responded with a layup from Uyehara followed by the Cougars’ fifth three-pointer of the game scored by Kirkman. With 5:32 left in the half, Hawai’i Pacific went on a 10-1 run to make the score 30-10 with a minute of play left to go. Uyehara would go on to score a free throw followed by another layup from Whitmore but it was the Sharks that got the final two points of the half. The score heading into the second half of the game stood at 33-22 in favor of the Cougars.
To open the third quarter, Tylee Manuel scored back to back jumpers to make the score 37-22 within the first minute of the game. After the Sharksresponded with two layups of their own, the Cougars took charge of the game and went on a 12-0 run including back-to-back layups from Whitmore, a layup from Heimburger, and back-to-back triples from Kirkman. With 4:39 left on the clock in the third quarter and the Cougars leading 49-26, Hawai’i Pacific went on to score eight points in an attempt to cut their deficit, but the Cougars responded with six points of their own to end the half.
At the start of the fourth quarter, the score stood at 55-34 but the Sharks weren’t giving up. They went on to score 11 points to the Cougars’ four points within the first five minutes. However, the Cougars still had a 14-point lead which was extended by two free throws from Whitmore with 4:43 left in the game.
Across the next three minutes, it was a free throws game for both sides. The Cougars scored five points from the charity stripe, including a triple from Uyehara as the Sharks scored six free throws. Then within the final minute, Hawai’i Pacific scored five points but Audrey Sayoc finished the game on two free throws to end the game 72-57.
