It was a great long weekend for five PacWest teams that all made it through the week unblemished. Azusa Pacific paved the way with three wins to move into first place, which included a key win over Dominican. Keisharna Lucas led the APU defense with 14 steals and 22 rebounds for Defender of the Week, while Vanguard’s Emma Schaaf averaged 23.7 points a game to lead the Lions to a 2-0 mark.

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PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Vanguard’s Emma Schaaf, F, Soph., 6-3, Newhall, Calif.                                                                     
Vanguard’s Emma Schaaf had another consistent pair of games to help the Lions improve to 10-3 in conference play with wins over Dominican (82-66) and Hawaii Pacific (79-37). The 6-foot-3 sophomore put up 30 points in the pivotal win over the Penguins, and also had seven rebounds and a pair of blocked shots. The 30 points is a career high. Against the Sharks, the 2025 PacWest Freshman of the Year added 17 more points, seven rebounds, three steals and two blocked shots. Schaaf is now averaging 14.2 points per game and 6.9 rebounds a contest.
 
DEFENDER OF THE WEEK: Azusa Pacific’s Keisharna Lucas, F, Sr., 5-11, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
Azusa Pacific’s Keisharna Lucas spearheaded the Cougar defense during three wins at home last week. The Union University transfer had 14 steals and pulled down 22 rebounds, while also averaging 15 points a game with eight assists. The Papua New Guinea native also nailed 6-of-11 three point attempts. The six steals against Hawaii Pacific equaled her career high and the 23 points in the big win over Dominican is her Cougar best.

TEAM OF THE WEEK: Azusa Pacific is the Team of the Week, winning three games at the Felix Event Center over Hawaii Hilo, Dominican and Hawaii Pacific. Lauren Jones poured in 32 points in the win over the Vulcans, hitting 6-of-14 three-point attempts. In the 82-80 win over the Penguins, Keisharna Lucas had 23 points and three other players had 16 points each in a balanced attack. Jones had 21 in Monday night’s win over HPU and Audrey Sayoc added 16 points, eight assists and five steals. The first-place Cougars are now 15-5 overall and 11-2 in the PacWest, and first-year leader Dan Ploog’s team has now won 11 of its last 12 games.  

ROAD TO SAN DIEGO: Longtime PacWest WBB power Azusa Pacific has a slight lead right now over second place Westmont in a very tight race for the conference regular season crown. The top six teams at the end of the month qualify for the PacWest Championship, March 5-7 in San Diego. Here’s a look at the top eight teams fighting for those half dozen positions. (1) Azusa Pacific 11-2, (2) Westmont 12-3, (3) Point Loma 11-3 (4) Vanguard 10-3, (T5) Dominican 9-5, (T5) Concordia 9-5, (7) Biola 8-6, (8) Menlo 6-8.  
 
 
PACWEST NEWS AND NOTES: Like Azusa Pacific, Westmont also went 3-0 last week. The Warriors added wins over Hawaii Pacific, Hawaii Hilo and Jessup to move to 16-5 on the season and to 12-3 in the PacWest. The Warriors have now won seven games in a row…Biola won three last week to stay within reach of a tournament playoff spot by beating Jessup, Chaminade and Fresno Pacific. The Eagles are now 8-6 in conference play…Concordia went 2-0 behind Asia Darcuiel’s 18 points a game, including 29 against Jessup. She scored 21 consecutive points during a stretch in the second quarter. Teammate Mirella Boshnell-Fernandes had a PacWest season high eight blocked shots against the Warriors…In Vanguard’s two wins, Kaylee Byon supplemented Emma Schaaf’s POW numbers with 16 total assists, including 12 against Dominican, equaling the PacWest best for the season…Audrey Sayoc played a similar all-around role for Azusa Pacific with 13.7 ppg, seven steals, 19 assists and 12 rebounds…In Dominican’s loss to Vanguard, the Penguins’ Kaylyn Buchanon had 16 points, nine rebounds and nine assists. In an even tighter loss to APU, Mahliya Wilson had 19 points, eight rebounds and six assists in the 82-80 setback…Fresno Pacific pulled off the upset of the week with a 68-65 road triumph over Point Loma. Sienna Evans had 16 points and Angela Whitfield had a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds. It was Point Loma’s first home loss of the season…In Hawaii Pacific’s loss to APU, Kyra Tanabe missed only four shots (9-13) in tallying 26 points, and she was a perfect 3-for-3 from three-point range.

WHAT’S NEXT: A dozen games are on the slate this week, beginning with tonight’s (Tuesday) contests—Hawaii Hilo at Vanguard and Menlo at Concordia. On Thursday Concordia is at Azusa Pacific, Hilo is at Biola, Fresno Pacific travels to Jessup and Menlo is at Point Loma. Saturday’s full schedule shows Hawaii Pacific at Chaminade, Azusa Pacific at Jessup, Dominican is at Fresno Pacific, Menlo is at Biola, Hilo will travel to Concordia and Vanguard is at Westmont. To see the complete season schedule, click here.