Paige Uyehara did it all in a big showdown win for Azusa Pacific over Fresno Pacific for POW, while Sameera Elmasri had a career night to help Chaminade beat the Sharks for the first time in 17 seasons. Biola won two more to capture Team of the Week.
2023-24 Standings
2023-24 Statistics
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Azusa Pacific's Paige Uyehara, G, Sr., 5-7, San Jose, Calif.
It was just one game but it was a big one for
Azusa Pacific and their leader
Paige Uyehara. It was the Cougars (8-0) against Fresno Pacific (6-1) at Azusa, and the hosts didn't waste much time establishing bragging rights with a 44-22 first half run, which included a pair of early steals and breakaway baskets by the 5th-year senior. Uyehara finished the game early (28 minutes) having filled up the scorebook with 22 points, seven assists and four steals. The assist total equaled a season high, while the points and steals were just one basket and one theft short of her season best. She got to 22 counters with 10-of-14 shooting. The San Jose native now has 1,387 points, 488 career assists and 207 steals in her career.
DEFENDER OF THE WEEK: Chaminade's Sameera Elmasri, F, Jr., 5-10, Jr., Shawnee, Kan.
Chaminade's Sameera Elmasri may be new to the Silversword program but she has already played her part in some positive Chaminade women's basketball history. The Birmingham-Southern transfer had career highs of 18 points and 11 rebounds as the 'Swords knocked off Hawai`i Pacific, 77-66 for the first time in nearly 17 seasons. The joyous victory snapped a 40-game losing streak against the Sharks, gave Chaminade its first PacWest victory of the season and snapped a 13-game 2023-24 skid. Elmasri had ten of her 11 rebounds on the defensive end of the court. Earlier in the week in a loss to Dominican, the Kansas native added eight more boards giving her a conference-best 19 rebounds for the week.
EAGLES TAKE TWO, COMPLETE SEASON SWEEP OF SEA LIONS: The PacWest Team of the Week is
Biola. The Eagles went 2-0 on the week with wins over Point Loma (80-69) and Westmont (63-51) to move into fourth place in the conference standings. Biola was balanced on the week with
Natasa Radovic totaling 22 points, 18 rebounds, ten assists and five steals in the two games, while
Laila Walker had numbers of 32 points, ten assists, seven rebounds and five steals. Walker and
Jaycee Goldsmith had 14 each against the Sea Lions and Radovic had 12 as the Eagles beat Point Loma for the second time this year. Against Westmont, Walker had 18, Radovic added ten with nine rebounds and seven assists and
Jordan Rabe put up 15 points and pulled down nine boards.
REGIONAL WATCH: The PacWest holds down spots 3-4-9 in today's (Jan. 22) D2CIDA West Region WBB poll.
Azusa Pacific is three,
Dominican four and
Fresno Pacific is nine. Here is the poll, with records through the weekend listed. (1) Montana State Billings 16-3, (2) Western Washington 14-3,
(3) Azusa Pacific 15-3, (4) Dominican 15-3, (5) CS San Marcos 13-3, (6) Alaska Anchorage 11-5, (T7) Central Washington 14-6, (T7) Cal Poly Pomona 11-5,
(9) Fresno Pacific 12-5, (10) Chico State 11-6. RV--Somona State.
PACWEST NEWS AND NOTES: The Road to San Diego is about halfway traveled as PacWest teams are just under, right at or just over the halfway point of the season.
Azusa Pacific (9-0) is 1.5 games ahead of
Dominican (8-2) with
Fresno Paciic (6-3),
Biola (7-4),
Concordia (6-4) and
Point Loma (4-5) holding down the top six spots. After 20 games for each team is in the books, the top six will head to Golden Gymnasium at Point Loma for the conference tournament, March 7-9...
Dominican went 2-0 last week with wins over Chaminade and Academy of Art to run their win streak to six games.
Keyonee Neal totaled 30 points and 12 rebounds while
Alaiyah San Juan had seven steals...
Keirstyn Agonias totaled 31 points, 15 rebounds, four blocks and four steals as
Hawai`i Hilo split games last week...HPU's
Megan Jones did her part in the Sharks loss to Chaminade with 13 points, 11 rebounds, three blocks and two steals...Last week's Defender of the Week
Kelly Heimburger had a big game for APU against Fresno Pacific with 18 points, six rebounds, four blocks and a pair of steals...
Concordia also topped the Sunbirds (58-51) behind
Izzy Navarro's 15 points.
Savannah Felix-Amoroso added 12 points and eight boards and
Teagan Thurman had four steals.
THIS WEEK IN THE PACWEST: The second half of the PacWest season begins this week with
Azusa Pacific and
Point Loma traveling to Hawai`i to take on all three island opponents.
Westmont and
Biola will travel to
Fresno Pacific for games, while
Concordia visits
Academy of Art and
Dominican. . Ten key games dot the slate this week. To see the complete schedule and results,
click here.