by Krissy Hetherington
AZUSA, Calif. – On Saturday afternoon, Azusa Pacific picked up an 82-53 win over Dominican to extend their 16-game winning streak. By defeating the Penguins, who sit in second place in the Conference, the Cougars remain undefeated in PacWest play with a 14-0 Conference record and 20-3 overall record.
Kelly Heimburger led the game with 19 points and a season-high six blocks, while also grabbing four rebounds. She also played lock-down defense on Keyonee Neal by not allowing the former PacWest Freshman of the Year to score a single point in the whole first half while also blocking four of her shots.
Amayah Kirkman contributed to the win with a double-double performance including 17 points and a team-high 12 rebounds. TyLee Manuel rounded out the double-digit scoring with 16 points while also grabbing seven boards.
How It Happened: The Cougars put up the first points of the game as Kirkman knocked down a three-pointer followed by a jumper by Heimburger. Dominican put up back-to-back shots from behind the rainbow but each time, Manuel would answer with a jumper down low to keep the team’s lead.
Up 11-6 just under halfway through the first quarter, Heimburger knocked down a triple to extend the team’s lead to eight. A few minutes later, she knocked down both free throws, followed by a jumper from Audrey Sayoc and Kirkman to give the Cougars a 13-point lead at the end of the first quarter.
Molly Whitmore got the first points of the second quarter with a jump shot and a free throw to extend the Cougars lead to 24-9. Following a jumper from Domincan’s Jenna Duley, Kirkman answered with one of her own that kicked off a domino effect. Her initial two points turned into a 13-point run for the Cougars as they extended their lead to 27 with 2:38 left in the half.
Down 12-38, Dominican knocked down two free throws but Kirkman countered with two of her own from the line. To end the half, Elyse Mitchell made a layup off her own rebound and Paige Uyehara knocked down a clean jumper in the paint before getting a defensive rebound that led to a three-pointer from Kelly Heimburger sending the Cougars to the locker room up 47-16.
To start the second half, the Penguins broke into a short-lived 9-2 point run to make the score 49-25. The game went back and forth for the rest of the period as each team capitalized on one another’s turnovers. Although the Penguins outscored the Cougars 21-15 in the third quarter, Azusa Pacific still hung on to its 25-point lead.
In the final quarter of the game, the Penguins continued to chip away at their deficit scoring back-to-back shots within a minute to make the score 41-62. However, the Cougars responded in their usual fashion scoring eight points in a row to bring their lead back to 29.
After a jumper from Dominican’s Olga Faasolo, Kirkman and Heimburger strung together another seven-point run to make the score 77-43 halfway through the fourth quarter. By the time Dominican responded piecing together ten more points to end the half, the Cougars were already too far gone.
