Box score, play-by-play (HTML)
 
SEATTLE – Jaylee Albert filled up the hoop for Seattle Pacific.
 
But Azusa Pacific cleaned up on the glass. That was perhaps the ultimate difference maker on Friday's first night of action in the Sodexo Classic women's basketball tournament.
 
Senior guard Albert poured in a career-high 25 points – more than double her previous single-game best – but APU converted 19 offensive rebounds into 13-second chance points and went on to beat the Falcons in Brougham Pavilion, 67-58.
 
Albert, whose previous high was 12 points at home against Biola last Nov. 22, drained 8 of her 15 shots from the field, nailing 5 of 6 from downtown.
 
 

"She came out and was confident and buried shots," head coach Mike Simonson said. "She was always like, 'OK, what's the next play?' Tha's the kind of mindset our team need to always grasp in tough moments. She never got down on herself, and we kept gong to her."
 
However, Albert was the only SPU player to get into double-figure scoring. Carly Rataushk and Riley Evans added nine points each.
 
Until the midpoint of the fourth quarter, the Falcons (0-3) were always within striking distance. But down by just seven at 58-51 with 6:07 still remaining, they saw Azusa (3-0) going on a 9-1 scoring burst in the next 1 minute, 39 seconds – a run that started with a second-chance basket by Savanna Hanson – to push the margin to 67-52 and effectively put the game out of reach.
 
"We just couldn't turn the corner," Simonson said "I felt like we had had decent fight at times. I thought we started the game well, and we defended probably the best we've defended The problem was we couldn't finish the play. We gave up 19 offensive rebounds, and that was very disappointing because we knew they were a very strong rebounding team.
 
"That really hurt us and killed our runs," he added. "We've got to able to withstand that and get grittier, do our job and rebound and box out."
 
For the game, Azusa Pacific out-rebounded SPU, 52-39. Each team had 33 boards at the defensive end, but the Cougars had a 19-6 advantage off the offensive glass.
 
Seattle Pacific led through the entire first quarter, scoring the game's first six points as Azusa missed its first nine shots and didn't get on the scoreboard until the 5:23 mark in a lay-in by Hanson.
 
The Cougars then closed the first half on a 12-1 run to turn a 24-21 deficit into a 33-25 lead by halftime and never trailed again.
 
BY THE NUMBERS
-- Along with her 25 points, Albert had five rebounds and four assists.
 

-- Although the Falcons struggled on the boards, 6-foot-2 freshman forward Natalie Hoff certainly didn't. Hoff corralled 12 of them, needing just three games of her college career to reach double-digits for the first time. Of those 12, nine came after halftime. She had five of SPU's six offensive rebounds.
-- That's not all Hoff was doing. She also blocked four shots after having had one all last week.
 

-- Carly Rataushk's nine points included a 3-pointer from the left of the lane with 6:47 left in the first quarter, That was just the sixth trey try of her career – and five of them have been good.
--Azusa Pacific had a pair of double-doubles. Savanna Hanson had 15 points and 10 boards; Laura Pranger logged 10 and 10.
--Seattle Pacific kept Azusa four points below its season average of 71. In addition to their 13 second-chance points, the Cougars tallied 24 points off 20 Falcon turnovers.
-- SPU lost for just the second time in 25 Sodexo Classic games. The other one was 60-53 against Wisconsin Parkside in 2015.
 
UP NEXT
The Falcons play their final Sodexo game on Saturday, tangling with UC San Diego at 5:00 p.m. The Tritons, who are the preseason pick to win the California Collegiate Athletic Association title, beat Western Washington in Friday's first game,79-72.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Sodexo Classic
Friday, Nov. 16, 2018
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
Azusa Pacific 67, Seattle Pacific 58
 
AZUSA PACIFIC (3-0)
S. Hanson 7-18 1-2 15, March 3-13 6-7 12, Pranger 4-9 1-2 10, Bozlee 3-10 0-0 0, D. Hanson 2-6 4-6 8, Lydia Nieto 3-7 0-3 8, Roufosse 2-7 0-1 4, Huddlesont 0-1 1-1 1, Lowden 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-71 13-22 67.
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (0-3)
Albert 8-15 4-6 25, Evans 4-12 0-0 9, Rataushk 4-8 0-0 9, HIngston 2-5 1-3 5, Skidmore 1-3 2-2 4, Hoff 1-5 1-2 3, West 1-5 0-2 2, Berg 0-0 1-2 1, Alter 0-2 0-0 0, Boston 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 21-57 9-17 58.
 
Azusa Pacific        9           24           22           12           -- 67
Seattle Pacific     12           13           18           15           -- 58
 
3-point goals – APU 6-29 (Bozlee 3-10, Nieto 2-5, Pranger 1-2, D. Hanson 0-4, March 0-4, S. Hanson 0-4), SPU 7-16 (Albert 5-6, Rataushk 1-1, Evans 1-5, Alter 0-1, Boston 0-1, Hingston 0-2). Fouled out – None. Rebounds – APU 52 (S. Hanson 10, Pranger 10), SPU 39 (Hoff 12). Assists – APU 13 (March 6), SPU 13 (Albert 4). Turnovers – APU 14, SPU 20. Total fouls – APU 17, SPU 20. Technical fouls – None. Attendance – 427.
 

Next game
UC San Diego at Seattle Pacific
Saturday, 5:00 p.m.
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.