IRVINE, Calif. -- Azusa Pacific won its fourth PacWest regular season title last week with its win over Concordia, 68-61. In the process, Laura Pranger became the PacWest’s all-time leader in blocks as her career total has now risen to 327.
 
Pranger now has 77 blocks this season, which ranks in the top-10 for single season blocks in PacWest history. Pranger has now cracked the top-10 list three times in her career at Azusa Pacific. The Cougars are now 20-3 on the season for their sixth 20-win season since joining the PacWest.
 
Concordia bounced back quickly with a win on Saturday at Point Loma, which will help the Eagles’ argument for a berth into the NCAA West Regional. Michaela VanderKlugt now has 2068 career points, which is just 100 shy of the PacWest’s all-time record with a minimum of three games left for her to break the record.
 
Dominican currently is No. 2 in the PacWest standings and will finish the regular season at home against Biola as the Penguins hope to go into the PacWest Championships with a seven-game winning streak. Four of the wins during the six-game winning streak have been against teams that have already clinched a berth into next week’s tournament in Fresno.
 
The final berth into the tournament is between host Fresno Pacific and Hawai`i Pacific. The two teams will face each other tomorrow in Fresno. If the Sharks win, they will clinch a berth. If the Sunbirds win, they can then clinch a berth either by beating Academy of Art in the regular season finale or by Chaminade upsetting Hawai`i Pacific on Sunday.   
 
Weekly awards for the Week of Feb. 14-20
 
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Riley Friauf, Dominican
F, Gr., 6-1 -- Vancouver, Wash.
Friauf earned her fourth PacWest Player of the Week award this season by recording a pair of double-doubles against Hawai`i Pacific and Hawai`i Hilo as the Penguins improved their winning streak to six games in a row. She opened the week with a 19-point, 12-rebound performance against Hawai`i Pacific. Then on Sunday, she recorded 25 points and 13 rebounds for her 11th double-double this year. Friauf is the conference leader in both scoring and rebounding, averaging 21.5 points and 9.9 rebounds per game. During the six-game winning streak, she has scored at least 18 points in five of the games, helping Dominican get back to the No. 2 spot in the PacWest standings going into the final week of the regular season. Friauf has made 172 free throws this season, which is tied for the seventh-most in PacWest history. She needs 62 more to tie the record.
 
DEFENDER OF THE WEEK
Aysia Johnson, Biola
G, Jr., 5-8 -- Indio, Calif.
Johnson made 10 steals last week, but none were bigger than her steal with two minutes left against Azusa Pacific. The Cougars had led by as much as five in the fourth quarter, but Johnson’s steal with 2:31 left in the game led to an easy lay-up by Amiah Simmons that Johnson assisted. The lay-up gave the Eagles 51-50 lead against the PacWest Champions as Biola went on to win 55-51. In Biola’s first game this week, Johnson had four steals against Point Loma along with three defensive rebounds. Biola held Point Loma to just 35 points to earn a crucial road win against a team over .500, which will reflect well for the NCAA ranking committee. Johnson then equaled her season-high for steals with six against Azusa Pacific. Again, the Eagles defense was stifling, holding the Cougars to just 51 points and only eight in the fourth quarter. Biola’s defense forced the Cougars into 26 turnovers, and Biola got 10 fastbreak points in return, snapping an 11-game losing streak to Azusa Pacific.