SAN DIEGO—Azusa Pacific overcame a slow start to rally back for a 70-59 Pacific West Conference semifinal victory over host Point Loma on Friday night at Golden Gymnasium.

The Cougars advance to Saturday’s 4:30 pm championship against the winner of tonight’s Vanguard and Westmont game.

Azusa improves to 23-8 on the year while Point Loma dips to 21-8. The Sea Lions are ranked No. 6 in this week’s NCAA West Region poll, while APU is No. 9.

Both teams began the game stone cold. After ten minutes of play, the count was 9-6, with Point Loma shooting 13 percent from the field and APU slightly warmer at 22 percent.

The pace picked up in the second quarter. The Cougars used the long ball to create some space, taking a 27-19 lead into the halftime locker room.

Point Loma crawled back in the third, trailing only 42-37 with ten minutes left.

But the Cougars sizzled in the fourth. They went 4-of-5 from behind the arch, which included back-to-back treys by Lauren Jones. They pushed their lead to 66-51 with just under two minutes to go before settling for the final count of 70-59.

Jones led APU with 16 points, Audrey Sayoc had 15, Keisharna Lucas added 11 and Rome Falcocchia had 10. Lucas just missed a double-double with nine rebounds, as did Sayoc with eight assists.

APU ended up hitting 10 of 22 three-point attempts.

Point Loma was led by Ruby Vlahov’s 19 points. Eiley Tippins had 17 and Hannah Golan had 12 rebounds for the Sea Lions. Izzy Navarro had eight assists.