PAINT PROBLEMS

Friday, February 5

Azusa, CA

5:30 p.m.

California Baptist University

Azusa Pacific

2/6/2010 4:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball

AZUSA, Calif. --- The NAIA's No. 9-ranked Azusa Pacific shot 51 percent in the second half and used a 23-5 run over an 8:40 span to turn a six-point lead into a route as the Cougars defeated California Baptist University, 86-69, Friday night in the Felix Event Center.

The loss is the Lancers' eighth in their past nine games and drops them to 11-12 overall, 4-9 GSAC, while the Cougars improve to 19-4, 12-1, keeping hold of the top spot in the conference with seven games left.

Brenna Hahn scored all of her points in the second half, scoring 21 of the Lancers' 39 points in the final 20 minutes, 14 of them in the final four minutes. Kendra Morris finished with 12 points off the bench. Heather Couzens had 11 points and eight rebounds, and Rachel McDaniel matched career-highs with 10 points and four assists.

Alex Moore-Porter poured in 21 points and snatched a game-high 12 rebounds. Kristie Hala'ufia added 19 points and grabbed eight rebounds and scored six points in a late first half 12-2 run that gave the Cougars the lead for good.

The Cougars out-scored the Lancers, 42-14, in the paint and had 22 second-chance points. They were 18-for-35 (51.4 percent) from the floor in the second half after shooting 41.9 percent in the first half.

Azusa Pacific held a slim 43-37 lead with 15:47 to play when the Lancers suddenly couldn't convert on their end. Over the next nine minutes of play, the Lancers missed eight shots and committed eight of their 23 turnovers as the Cougars pulled away. It took all of three minutes for the lead to balloon from seven (46-39) to 19 (60-41). Six different Cougars scored in the run, and by the time the dust began to settle, Azusa Pacific had a 66-42 advantage with 6:49 to play.

McDaniel stopped the bleeding momentarily with a jumper, but Briana Hall and Hala'ufia, who hasn't hit a single trey all season, sandwiched a pair of 3-pointers on consecutive possessions around two McDaniel free throws, and just one minute later, a C.J. Hill jumper gave them their largest lead of the game, 75-48, with 4:39 to play.

The Lancers whittled the deficit down to 15 (84-69) over the next 2:30, but it was way too little way too late.

Early in the game, Couzens gave the Lancers a 22-21 lead with 6:33 to play but Hall answered with a trey to kick start a 12-2 run in which Hala'ufia scored six of those points to give the Cougars a 33-24 lead with 2:06 to play. Morris hit two triples in the final 1:39, though, and the Lancers trailed just 34-30 at halftime.