IRVINE, Calif. -- The NCAA postseason bracket is set with PacWest rivals Azusa Pacific and Hawai`i Pacific facing each other in the first round of the NCAA West Regional on Friday in Grand Junction, Colorado.
Hawai`i Pacific earned its spot in the regional with the conference’s automatic bid after recording an undefeated season with the best performance indicator, RPI, record versus teams .500 or better and national ranking in the entire West Region following a pair of wins last week against Chaminade.
Azusa Pacific secured an at-large berth after an impressive run to finish the regular season as the SoCal Pod Champions, setting up a mouth-watering clash in the first round of the tournament.
Hawai`i Pacific has won each of the last four meetings between the two teams, but Azusa Pacific enters the tournament as defending champion and a replenished lineup after a week off to end the regular season.
Academy of Art and Dominican met for the first time this season in the final week and played each other three times. The Urban Knights won two of the three to earn a second-place finish in the NorCal Pod.
Riley Friauf finished the season averaging 18.3 points per game, which was the second-highest average in the conference this season. She joins a line of Penguins who have been some of the conference’s best scorers in recent years along with
Sandra Ikeora,
Natalie Diaz and
Jerusha Paine who all led the conference in scoring for the year at least once.
Weekly awards for the week of March 1-7
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Lauryn Manns, Academy of Art
G, Jr., 5-8 -- Corona, Calif.
Academy of Art got its long-awaited chance to face Dominican in the final week of the season and won two of the three contests in the series, and Manns led all scorers in the three games. In the first game of the series, Manns made 4 of 5 shots from beyond the arc and finished with 28 points. She added six steals for the Urban Knights. In the following game, the junior added 14 points, five rebounds, two blocks and two steals. Manns scored in double digits for the sixth game in a row in the season finale, scoring 11 points with five rebounds as ART U finished the season with a 3-4 record.
HAWAI`I PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Amy Baum, Hawai`i Pacific
G, Jr., 5-7 -- Melbourne, Australia
Baum nearly had two-consecutive triple-doubles to wrap up the regular season for the undefeated Sharks. Baum registered 16 points, nine rebounds and eight assists in Hawai`i Pacific’s 200th all-time PacWest win. She made 7 of 11 shots in the win with three steals and a block. Two days later, Baum helped Hawai`i Pacific complete the perfect regular season with her first triple-double of the year. She finished with 10 points, 15 assists and 10 rebounds. It was the third time the junior notched a PacWest record-tying 15 assists in a single game. She added four more steals and one block.
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Ellie Turk, Point Loma
G, Fr., 5-8 -- Torrance, Calif.
Turk scored 23 points in the final game of the season for Point Loma. It was her third 20-point performance of the season as the Sea Lions wrapped up the season with a 9-6 record. Turk made 8 of 16 shots, including 3 of 6 from beyond the arc to lead the Sea Lions in scoring for the game.