PACWEST WOMEN’S BASKETBALL WEEKLY NOTEBOOK
IRVINE, Calif. -- Azusa Pacific clinched the PacWest regular season title and No. 1 seed for the PacWest Championships on Thursday with its 77-47 win against Academy of Art.
The Cougars are looking to win their second PacWest Tournament title in program history on March 7-9 in San Rafael, California. They finished the season with a dominant 94-70 win against Dominican to extend its winning streak to seven going into the tournament. Host Dominican will be the No. 2 seed.
Concordia clinched its spot in the PacWest Championships on the final day of the regular season when Hawai`i Pacific defeated Notre Dame de Namur in the regular-season finale. The Eagles needed to win any of their final four games in order to clinch, but Point Loma prevented that from happening, opening the door to Notre Dame de Namur. However, Hawai`i Pacific dominated with an 86-45 win to keep the Argonauts out of the tournament, while setting up a first-round clash with Concordia.
Point Loma has the PacWest’s longest active winning streak going into the tournament as the No. 4 seed. The Sea Lions have won 12 in a row. The defending runner-up will face No. 5 Fresno Pacific, which is making its first appearance in the event. The Sunbirds clinched a spot early thanks to a strong start to conference play. They are one win away from claiming a 20-win season for the 2018-19 campaign.
Weekly awards based on the week of Feb. 25-March 3
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Rachel Bozlee, Azusa Pacific
G, Jr., 5-8 --Spokane, Wash.
Just over a month ago, Bozlee broke the Azusa Pacific record for 3-pointers in a single game. Then in the regular season finale against Dominican, the junior broke her own Azusa Pacific record and the PacWest record by going 10 for 18 from beyond the arc in the Cougars’ win against Dominican. She finished the game with a season-high 32 points with two assists and two steals. Two days earlier against Academy of Art, Bozlee went 2 for 6 from 3-point territory and finished with 10 points, two assists and no turnovers.
DEFENDER OF THE WEEK
Laura Pranger, Azusa Pacific
F, So., 6-2 -- Denver, Colo.
Pranger added 10 more blocks to her season total last week to reach 87 blocks on the season, which ranks in the top 10 in PacWest history for a single season. The sophomore had eight blocks against Dominican as the Cougars defeated the No. 2 seed in next week’s PacWest Championships. She also had two steals and eight rebounds in the victory. Against Academy of Art, Pranger tallied seven rebounds, two blocks and a steal. She scored 34 points on the week.
FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK
Chanel Stuart, Academy of Art
G, Fr., 5-8 -- Elk Grove, Calif.
In the final game of her freshman campaign, Stuart dropped a career-high 30 points against Biola. The freshman made 11 of 19 shots, including 6 of 12 from beyond the arc to finish with 30 points, three rebounds, two steals and an assist. Stuart played every minute of the last six games of the season and had 11 steals in the final four games. She finished the year with 11.8 points and 6.4 rebounds per game with 57 steals and 42 assists. Stuart earned three PacWest Freshman of the Week honors on the season.