The mandatory holiday break did not slow down Dominican, who picked up two more wins to claim the first PacWest Team of the Week for 2023. Abby Spurgin totaled 57 points in two games to win another Player of the Week award for Hawai`i Pacific and ART U’s Alisha Wilson was a numbers machine on both ends of the court to gain the Defender of the Week award.  

2022-23 Results/Schedule
2022-23 Standings
2022-23 Statistics
D2SIDA West Region and National Polls
 
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Hawai`i Pacific’s Abby Spurgin, C, 6-3, Gr., Fredericksburg, Texas                                
Abby Spurgin’s Hawai`i Pacific career has spanned just two months on the calendar, but she has already made a massive impact. The former West Texas A&M star grabbed her third PacWest Player of the Week award after two impressive outings against Concordia and Champion Christian. Against the Golden Eagles in a 92-90 overtime loss, Spurgin had 31 points, nine rebounds and four blocked shots. She 26 points and nine boards against Champion Christian, totaling 57 points, 18 rebounds and six blocked shots for the week. The Texas native leads the PacWest with 26.8 points a game, 2.2 blocked shots a contest and is second in field goal percentage (53%) and third in rebounds (9.0).
 
DEFENDER OF THE WEEK: Academy of Art’s Alisha Wilson, F/C, Soph., 6-1, Pomona, Calif.                                   
Rebound machine Alisha Wilson grabbed 22 boards in ART U’s 79-50 win over Holy Names, and for good measure pulled down 15 more a few days later in a 66-53 victory over Fresno Pacific. That gave her 37 for the week, but she also added 44 total points, six assists and three steals to her totals. 28 of those points came in the win over the Hawks, a career high for the sophomore. A Second Team All-PacWest pick last year as a freshman, Wilson currently leads the conference with 11.7 rebounds a game and is second in field goal percentage (49%). The southern California native also holds the ART U record in the 400 meters (53.97) and earned track and field All-American honors last spring.

FIVE AND COUNTING FOR THE PENGUINS!: The PacWest Team of the Week is the Dominican Penguins. After earning the last Team of the Week honor of 2022 with wins over Azusa Pacific and Biola, the Penguins didn’t skip a beat after the break. They knocked off Fresno Pacific (70-62) on Friday and then destroyed Holy Names (104-46) on Monday. Keyonee Neal was key in both victories, putting up 24 points and seven boards against the Sunbirds and adding 22 more points and seven rebounds against the Hawks. Olga Faasolo had a double-double in the Holy Names win (14 points, 12 rebounds) and Brittany Cedeno was her normal all-around self with 18 points, eight rebounds, two assists, two steals and a blocked shot against FPU. Dominican has now won five straight games and is just a half-game out of first place with a 6-2 conference record.

SIX TEAMS MAKE THE STANDINGS TOP HEAVY: The top six teams in the PacWest standings are still within 1.5 games of each other through January 4. Concordia moved into the top slot with their overtime victory over Hawai`i Pacific with a 6-1 mark, followed closely by Azusa Pacific (5-1), Dominican (6-2), HPU (3-1), Point Loma (5-2) and Biola (4-2). Of course, it’s early with ultimately 20 total games to be played by each team in the PacWest, with the final goal to be in the top six and qualify for the PacWest Tournament, March 2-4 in Honolulu.

PACWEST NEWS AND NOTES: Haylee Saurette of Point Loma had 35 total points last week as the Sea Lions split games—falling in non-conference action to CSULA (78-62) and holding off Hawai`i Hilo (56-51)…In addition to Alisha Wilson’s big numbers (see Defender of the Week), ART U’s Christy Ojide had 22 points and 12 boards in the win over Holy Names…Maesyn Rix had a double-double for Fresno Pacific (12 points, 14 rebounds) in their 70-62 loss to Dominican. FPU’s Breanna Hurt just missed with 13 points and 9 boards…Biola played just once last week, gaining a 82-54 non-conference win over Hope International, who is 12-3 overall and receiving votes in the NAIA national poll…Hawai`i Hilo beat rival Chaminade 86-45, with Mandi Kawaha contributing a line of 17 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and three steals, aided by Kamalu Kamakawiwoole’s 18 points, seven rebounds, three blocks and two steals…Dallas Martinez recorded Chaminade’s first-ever triple-double with 23 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists in the Silverswords’ 78-76 loss to Champion Christian. Emma Morris added 12 points and 13 boards…Concordia’s Katie Timmerman had 27 points in CUI’s 92-90 overtime win over HPU, including the game-clinching three-pointer with 13 seconds left in the extra period. In addition to Abby Spurgin’s 31-point outburst, the Sharks’ Haley Masaki had 23 points.

APU AND CUI REPRESENT IN REGIONAL POLL: In today’s D2SIDA West Region poll, Azusa Pacific moved up to the fifth spot and Concordia climbed a slot to No. 9. The 1/3/23 rankings look like this: (1) Western Washington 9-1, (2) CS Dominiguez Hills 12-0, (3) CS San Marcos 9-1, (4) Central Washington 11-2, (5) Azusa Pacific 10-3, (6) Cal Poly Pomona 8-2, (7) Montana State Billings 11-4, (8) Alaska Anchorage 10-3, (9) Concordia 8-4, (10) Seattle Pacific 8-4. Nationally, WWU is No. 8, Cal State Dominguez Hills in 19, Cal State San Marcos is 24^th and CWU is receiving votes.

PACWEST PLAY RESUMES: A busy schedule resumes in the PacWest, beginning with four games on Thursday. Point Loma and Concordia will continue their tour of the islands, while Azusa Pacific and Biola will take turns hosting Fresno Pacific and Holy Names. ART U starts their Hawaiian Island swing on Monday at Hawai`i Pacific.