Women's Basketball

Two Kinds of Eagles, Cougars and Sharks Keep Rolling

Four teams went unbeaten in PacWest play last week, creating more of a gap in the standings as we close in on the halfway point of the season. Hawaii Pacific earned the Team of Week with big wins over Point Loma and Academy of Art, and Abby Spurgin played a huge role in that with points, rebounds and especially blocked shots (Defender of the Week). Biola’s Laila Walker scored 50 points in two games to gain Player of the Week honors.

2022-23 Results/Schedule
2022-23 Standings
2022-23 Statistics
D2SIDA West Region and National Polls
 
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Biola’s Laila Walker, G, 5-5, Soph., Fontana, Calif.                                                           
Sophomore guard Laila Walker helped push Biola’s PacWest record to 6-2 with home wins over Fresno Pacific and Holy Names. Against the Sunbirds, Walker knocked down a career-high 28 points, nailing 6-of-11 three-point attempts. She also had five rebounds and three assists. Against the Hawks, she drilled 5-of-7 trey attempts for 22 points and also had four assists. On the season, the southern California native leads the PacWest in three-point field goal percentage (.425) and treys per game (2.6). She is averaging 12.6 points a game.
 
DEFENDER OF THE WEEK: Hawaii Pacific’s Abby Spurgin, C, Grad., 6-3, Fredericksburg, Tex.                               
West Texas A&M grad transfer Abby Spurgin has already collected three PacWest Player of the Week awards, and now has her first Defender of the Week honor. The 6-foot-3 center blocked a PacWest season-high six shots in HPU’s win over Academy of Art (also ties an HPU record) and totaled nine blocks for the week. She also pulled down 13 rebounds each in wins over the Urban Knights and Point Loma and had 35 total points. On the season, Spurgin leads the PacWest in scoring (25.1) and blocked shots (2.6) and is second in rebounds (9.7) and field goal percentage (.528).

SHARKS TALLY TWO BIG HOME WINS: The PacWest Team of the Week is the HAWAII PACIFIC SHARKS. HPU moved to 5-1 in conference play with a stunning blowout of Point Loma (70-41) and a 10-point victory over Academy of Art (62-52). Against the Sea Lions, the Sharks jumped out to a 24-3 first quarter lead and would cruise from there. The Shark win snapped a three-game PLNU conference win streak. Against the Urban Knights, the Sharks began the second half on a 17-5 run and held off a late ART U rush. Abby Spurgin was dominant in both games, collecting her fifth and sixth double-doubles of the season. Jasmine Rachal put up a season-high 30 points against the Vulcans. HPU is now 5-1 in PacWest play, with their only blemish a 92-90 cliff hanger against Concordia.

SEPARATION CONTINUES IN PACWEST STANDINGS: The top six teams in the PacWest standings are still within two games of each other and the top three have just one loss each. Concordia has won six in a row and is in the top slot with a 8-1 mark, followed closely by Azusa Pacific (7-1), Hawaii Pacific (5-1), Dominican (6-2), Biola (6-2) and Point Loma (6-3). The Sea Lions are 2.5 games ahead of the seventh place team, Academy of Art (3-5). Of course, it’s early with ultimately 20 total games to be played in the PacWest, with the final goal to be in the top six and qualify for the PacWest Tournament, March 2-4 in Honolulu at Chaminade.

PACWEST NEWS AND NOTES: Concordia’s Teagan Thurman had two big games in Hawaii, and almost any other week could have been the Player or Defender of the Week. Thurman pulled down 17 rebounds and scored 23 points in the Golden Eagles’ 84-79 victory over Hawaii Hilo, and the Northwest Nazarene transfer had a double-double of 13 points and 12 boards in CUI’s win over Chaminade…Thurman’s teammate Jasmine Rachal canned 30 points and had four assists versus the Vulcans…Azusa Pacific’s Paige Uyehara, the PacWest Preseason Player of the Year, had a balanced weekly stat sheet with 29 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists in APU’s victories over Holy Names and Fresno Pacific. The senior guard had 20 points, eight rebounds and six assists against the Sunbirds…Teammate Molly Whitmore had 30 points and 19 rebounds on the week, including 20-11 against the Hawks…Chaminade’s Dallas Martinez had 34 total points in losses to Point Loma and Concordia…Breanna Hurt had 19 points and seven rebounds in FPU’s 71-55 loss to Biola…Point Loma’s Maddie Mersch led a balanced Sea Lion attack against the Silverswords with 14 points, nine rebounds and four steals…Hawaii Hilo’s Mandi Kawaha had 30 points and six assists in UHH’s 84-79 loss to CUI. The 5-2 guard is second in the PacWest in scoring at 19.7 points per game…Last week’s Defender of the Week Alisha Wilson of ART U had 18 points and 15 rebounds in their 10-point loss to Hawaii Pacific...6-2 Dominican was idle last week.  

APU AND CUI REPRESENT IN REGIONAL POLL: In today’s D2SIDA West Region poll, Azusa Pacific moved from the fifth spot to third, and Concordia climbed a slot to No. 8. The 1/9/23 rankings look like this: (1) Western Washington 11-1, (2) CS Dominiguez Hills 14-0, (T3) CS San Marcos 10-2, (T3) Azusa Pacific 12-3, (5) Montana State Billings 13-4, (6) Central Washington 11-4, (7) Cal Poly Pomona 9-3, (8) Concordia 11-4, (9) Seattle Pacific 10-4, (10) Cal State Los Angeles 8-5. Receiving Votes—Alaska Anchorage, Dominican.

BUSY PACWEST SCHEDULE FEATURES GAMES EVERY DAY: There are games every day this week in the PacWest, starting with tonight’s (Monday) Dominican at Hawaii Hilo contest. Top tier games include Wednesday’s Azusa Pacific at Point Loma and Dominican at Hawaii Pacific games, and Saturday’s Biola at HPU and Point Loma at Concordia contests.