CHANDLER, Ariz.  -- The Cactus Classic continued for Vanguard women's basketball and the offense found its Christmas cheer against the University of Health Sciences & Pharmacy.  The Lions banished the result from yesterday from their brains and rained down points on the Eutectics, never trailing in an 84-64 victory.  The Lions improve to 5-2 overall and drop UHSP to 4-5.  Melissa Akullu and Sarah Matossian led all players with 22 points each.
 
 
What Happened? The Lions banked the first 17 points of the contest in just over four minutes of play to put the Eutectics in an early hole.  Akullu made the first layup for the Lions at the 9:08 mark of the first frame and Jaryn Madsen made a block on the defensive end to send the squad off in transition.  Matossian got out in front of the UHSP squad and splashed down with the first three of the night to make it 5-0, with Akullu getting the assist.  Airiana Madanski nailed a triple a couple of possessions later, as the opening run would continue until a UHSP layup with 3:48 to go in the period, which trimmed the Vanguard advantage to 19-2.  Madanski sniped another three with 41 seconds to go to put VU ahead 27-10 before a pair of free throws for the Eutectics closed out the quarter, with the Blue and Gold on top 27-12.
 
Madanski started the second with her third downtown conversion of the contest and another Akullu layup pushed the lead to 20 at 32-12.  The gap between the two sides would hover around 20 points for the rest of the second, as the Blue and Gold outscored UHSP 17-11.  Alexa Silva and Natalie Scherzer made baskets as the half wound down and Vanguard would take a 44-23 lead into halftime.  The Lions shot 50% (17-34) over the first two quarters, holding UHSP to 25.7% from the floor (9-35).
 
The Lions outscored the Eutectics again in the third quarter 24-22, but would dip a little in the fourth, as UHSP would take the final frame 19-16.  However, the Eutectics would never challenge the VU lead, which would grow to a maximum of 34 at the 3:53 mark of the third frame.  The Lions cruised to an 84-64 victory on the back of 50% shooting (31-62) for the game.
 
VU held the Eutectics to 34.8% shooting from the field and 28% from downtown.  Vanguard hit 16 of 36 attempts from deep for a 44.4% mark in the contest.  Matossian just edged Akullu in rebounds, tying Grace Beyer of UHSP for a game-high of nine, with Akullu next at eight.  Madanski made six of her 12 three-point shots to collect 18 points on the night, tying Matossian, who went 6-for-9 from downtown.  Halle Si'i had only four points but dished out 13 assists.  Scherzer tallied seven points.
 
What was Said? "This was a game we had to respond," said Assistant Coach Sierra Vaglica.  "Sarah had a huge game for us in every zone.  We shot really well from behind the arc, with Sarah and Airiana hitting six threes apiece.  There are still a lot of things we can improve on and I hope tomorrow will give us another chance to do just that."
 
What's Next?  Vanguard will take on MidAmerica Nazarene tomorrow in the final game for each program at the Cactus Classic, with tipoff slated for 1:00 p.m. PT.