Point Loma, Azusa Pacific, Biola and Hawaii Pacific are 2-0 to tip off the New Year as PacWest play picks up after the holiday break. HPU handed Vanguard its first conference loss, while Kelly Heimburger's all around game led APU to wins over Fresno Pacific and Jessup. Morgan Escobedo had 25 points, 17 rebounds, eight steals, nine assists and a game winner to earn the Silversword Player of the Week honors. 

2024-25 Results/Schedule
2024-25 Standings
2024-25 Statistics

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Chaminade's Morgan Escobedo, G, Soph., 5-4, Scottsdale, Ariz.                                
Chaminade's Morgan Escobedo was a stat sheet filler during Silversword games at home against Vanguard and Westmont. On Thursday during a 64-63 win over the Warriors, Escobedo scored the winning basket on a driving lay-up at the buzzer for the win, finalizing a double-double night for her of ten points and 11 rebounds. She also had a career high seven steals in the contest. On Saturday, in a loss to 5-1 Vanguard, the sophomore guard had a team-high 15 points with six rebounds and six assists. For the weekend, she finished with 25 points, 17 rebounds, eight steals and nine assists. 

DEFENDER OF THE WEEK: Azusa Pacific's Kelly Heimburger, F, Sr., 6-0, San Jose, Calif.                                
Azusa Pacific's Kelly Heimburger had two more MVP-type games in her Most Outstanding Player career during Cougar wins over Fresno Pacific and Jessup last week. The 2024 PacWest Player and Defender of the Year had 30 points, 11 rebounds, four blocked shots and 10 steals in limited minutes as APU beat their opponents by a combined 50 points. Heimburger had nine of those steals, a career high, against Jessup, which is tied for the eighth highest total in PacWest history. In the 90-72 win over the Warriors, she had 16 points, five rebounds and three blocks. In the 85-53 win over FPU, the 6-foot forward had 14 points and six boards. It was Heimburger's third all-time Defender of the Week award and her seventh PacWest Player of the Week award overall. 

TEAM OF THE WEEK: The Hawaii Pacific Sharks are the PacWest Team of the Week. HPU improved to 7-3 overall and 3-1 in conference play with wins over Vanguard and Concordia by a nerve wracking total of five points. On Thursday, the Sharks handed Vanguard its first loss (now 5-1) by outscoring the Lions 14-7 in the fourth quarter for the 57-54 win. Allison Ross had 12 points in the balanced attack and Lupe Vasquez came off the bench to add 11 points in just 16 minutes of play. In a two- point win over Concordia (62-60), Vasquez had another big game off the bench with 19 points, hitting 8-of-11 shots. It was the third and fourth straight win for the Sharks, who are off to their best start since 2020-21. 

THIS WEEK: Conference play returns in full swing this week with a dozen games on the slate. Wednesday features Dominican at Fresno Pacific and Academy of Art at Jessup. On Thursday, Azusa Pacific travels to Hawaii Pacific to test the red-hot Sharks, Vanguard is at Concordia, Point Loma is at Hawaii Hilo and Biola visits Chaminade. Saturday's full list includes Westmont at Concordia, Azusa Pacific at Chaminade, Jessup at Dominican, Fresno Pacific at Menlo, Pont Loma at Hawaii Pacific and Biola at Hilo.  To see the complete list, click here.

PACWEST NEWS AND NOTES: Point Loma and Azusa Pacific remain unbeaten with perfect 6-0 conference records to begin the calendar year 2025. Vanguard is right behind at 5-1, followed by a trio of squads at 3-3 in Dominican, Westmont and Biola...There were a number of Player of the Week worthy performances last week, including Point Loma's Alli McDonald work. McDonald had 17 rebounds against Fresno Pacific, and totaled 24 points and 24 rebounds for the weekend...In addition to Kelly Heimburger's week, APU's Amayah Kirkman and Audrey Sayoc had impressive lines. Kirkman totaled 38 points in two games, and Sayoc had 18 assists and eight steals, including a PacWest season high 12 assists against Jessup...Biola won its second and third straight games, defeating Academy of Art and Jessup. Jessa Thurman totaled 24 points and 17 rebounds in the two victories. In an overtime win over Jessup, Jaycee Goldsmith came off the bench and totaled 19 points, missing just two shots...Westmont's Sage Kramer had a season-high 28 points in the one-point loss to Chaminade...Lauren James hit six three-pointers for 20 points in APU's win over Jessup...Izzy Navarro had 28 points in Concordia's 74-64 loss to Hawaii Hilo. Cadence Tarrant had a double with 11 points and 16 rebounds for the Golden Eagles. Mindy Kawaha had a career high 19 points for the Vulcans for their first conference win...Dominican won its third straight game with a 70-66 win over Menlo. Alaiyah San Juan had 23 points and seven assists, including her career 1,000 point...Halle Si`i had 18 points and five assists to help lead Vanguard past Chaminade, 67-59. Emma Schaaf blocked five Silversword shots...Westmont rolled past Hilo (70-47) behind Jazmyn Shipp's 14 points and Lisa Kiefer's 16 rebounds.

WEST REGION RANKINGS: Today's (Jan. 6) D2CSC west region ranking looks like this: (1) CS Dominguez Hills 14-0, (2) Montana State Billings 14-2, (3) Azusa Pacific 12-1, (4) Cal Poly Pomona 10-2, (5) Alaska Anchorage 13-2, (6) Chico State 11-1, (7) Point Loma 11-3, (8) Central Washington 9-3, (9) CS Los Angeles 7-4, (T10) Simon Fraser 9-4, (T10) Hawaii Pacific 7-3. RV--Western Washington, Vanguard.