Starr Rivera scored 18 points and Abbey Noblett added 16 to lead the third-ranked Hawaii Pacific women’s basketball team to a 68-57 win over Azusa Pacific in Saturday’s championship game of the PacWest tournament in Azusa, Calif.
Alysha Marcucci scored 11 and Amy Baum added seven points, eight assists and eight rebounds for the Sharks (29-1), who became the first team to win three straight PacWest tournament titles. Rivera was named the tournament’s most outstanding player and Baum made the all-tournament team.
HPU, the top-ranked team in the West region, is in contention to host next week’s eight-team NCAA Division II West regional. Seeding will be announced today.
HPU forced 18 turnovers and turned those into 17 points. The Sharks trailed 27-25 at halftime but outscored the Cougars 43-30 in the second half.
Daylee Hanson scored 20 points for Azusa Pacific (25-5).
The Sharks, whose lone loss this season came to Sioux Falls at the Shark Tank in November, were held under 70 points for the second straight game after running off 12 in a row over the mark before the tournament.
Hawaii Pacific shrugged off a slow start against Azusa Pacific, trailing 10-4. The Sharks battled back but entered halftime down by two. Hawaii Pacific went on a 7-0 run in the third period to outscore Azusa Pacific 21-15 in the frame and take a 46-42 lead into the fourth. The Sharks extended the lead in the final period, outscoring the Cougars 22-15 thanks to a 9-0 run to close out the game with 1:41 left.
Hawaii Pacific committed 10 turnovers and hit seven of their 24 3-point attempts while holding the Cougars to 3-for-25 shooting from beyond the arc, allowing only one of eight long-range shots to connect in the telling fourth period.
Azusa Pacific missed all three of its 3-point shots during Hawaii Pacific’s run, and Hanson missed three layups. Ally Bates played 25 minutes off the bench for HPU, scoring nine points and collecting seven rebounds.
That helped out, since starting forward Makenna Gambee played only 13 minutes and scored two points.
