SAN DIEGO—Azusa Pacific’s Rachel Roderick gathered in a lob pass from Lauren Jones and dropped home the winning basket with 2.2 seconds left to give the Cougars a 59-58 win over Concordia on Thursday night at Golden Gymnasium.

The victory in the Pacific West Conference opening round for the No. 3 seeded Cougars vaults them into Friday’s semifinals against No. 2 Point Loma at 5 pm. APU will take a 18-5 record into the match-up. Concordia’s season ends after a thrilling finish at 14-14.

It was a wild game that saw Azusa Pacific stay the course after a ice cold first half of shooting. Concordia led for almost all of the first 20 minutes as they clamped down defensively on APU. The Cougars made just 2 of 19 shots in the second quarter, but still only trailed 30-24 at the break.

The Golden Eagles pushed their margin to 36-28 early in the third period, but APU then found their range to climb back in. APU pulled to within three points on back-to-back baskets by Lauren Jones, but CUI still led at the end of the third, 45-42.

A 7-0 Azusa run started the fourth quarter and gave the Cougars their first lead since early in the game. CUI answered with a 9-0 blitz of their own, but the teams then traded baskets down the stretch. The Cougars took a 57-56 lead on free throws by Rome Falcocchia with 1:35 left.

Neither team would score until CUI’s Genesis Hopkins took the ball at the top of the key, drove inside, spun and dropped home what looked like might be the game winner with 3.5 seconds remaining.

After a time out, APU inbounded from the sideline on their side of the court. A perfect lob inside found Roderick, who turned and banked it home for the actual game winner. The CUI inbounds pass at the other end of the court was stolen and the game was over.

APU head coach Dan Ploog was grateful that his team stayed the course after a very cool first half.

“We talked about winning with defense,” he said. “If we made it hard for them to score, we could stay in the game despite how we were shooting. I was proud of how we stepped up. We stayed very composed, especially at the end with all that was going on.”

Falcocchia and Jones led APU with 12 points each. Asia Darcuiel paced Concordia with 15 points. Hopkins had 17 rebounds and five blocked shots.

The Golden Eagles, who were picked tenth in the PacWest preseason poll, had just one returning starter at the beginning of the year.

“I am so proud of this team,” said head coach Christine Collins-Kiernan. “We talk about a culture of joy, and every day is the best day just being with them. We have all but two seniors coming back next year, but those seniors helped get this culture turned around.”