COSTA MESA – Melissa Akullu and Airiana Madanski were surrounded by family, friends and fans in a Senior Night celebration on Saturday at Orange Coast College, and the ninth-ranked Vanguard women's basketball team followed suit with a 74-48 win over Life Pacific.
Akullu registered a 30-point, 13-rebound performance to go along with six steals and a blocked shot. The center has scored 30 or more seven times this season. In addition, she posted her 14th straight double-double and her 18th overall. She shot 13 of 22 from the floor and even took just her second three-point attempt of the season before leaving the game with two minutes to play.
Madanski had five points, four rebounds and an assist while playing a team-high 35 minutes.
In winning their fourth straight and eight out of their last nine games, the Lions also got solid contributions from Halle Si'i and Sarah Matossian. Si'i collected 14 points, seven rebounds, six assists and six steals in another signature all-around effort, while Matossian just missed double-double status with nine points and eight rebounds.
Freshman Natalie Scherzer provided eight points to lead the bench.
The Lions shot 38.6 (27 of 70) percent for the game and held a 44-33 edge on the boards. VU forced 27 Life Pacific turnovers and converted those into 21 points. The Lions committed just eight turnovers of their own and won the points off turnovers battle by a 21-3 margin.
Julianna Sanchez and Kyori Lloyd tied for team-high scoring honors with 12 points apiece for Life Pacific.
The Lions improved to 17-4 overall and moved into sole possession of first place in the Golden State Athletic Conference with a 10-2 mark. Menlo fell one game behind the Lions in the GSAC race after the Oaks lost at Jessup on Saturday.
What Happened?: The Lions outscored the Warriors 43-27 in the second half with Akullu scoring 19 of her 30 points, including 13 in the fourth quarter.
The Blue and Gold buckled down on defense to start the third period as they held Life Pacific without a point for the first five minutes and 53 seconds.
VU outscored Life Pacific 8-0 over that span to turn a 31-21 halftime lead into a 39-21 bulge. Akullu scored three buckets and Matossian added another as the Warriors would get no closer than 16 the rest of the way.
Faith Schwantner finally broke the LPU scoring drought with a jumper at the 4:07 mark to cut the deficit to 39-23, but the Lions built the advantage to 21 as Madanski's triple made the score 44-23. The freshmen duo of Ashlin Crabtree and Scherzer hit a three-pointer and jumper, respectively, to increase the lead to 51-28 before a late bucket by Sanchez had Life Pacific trailing 51-30 entering the fourth quarter.
Sanchez had a three-point play to get the Warriors within 56-40 with 7:48 to play, but the Lions scored 11 of the next 15 points to pull further away. Akullu's layup with 3:36 remaining lifted VU to a 67-44 lead.
The Lions opened the game with a 13-4 lead, but managed just five points over the final five minutes. Life Pacific hit its final two attempts to pull within 18-11 at the end of one quarter.
VU went scoreless for four minutes in the second period and the Warriors capitalized with an 11-4 run. Sophia Ganino's three-pointer trimmed the Warrior deficit to 22-18 with 3:11 to go before halftime. But Si'i splashed consecutive three-pointers to push the VU lead back to double digits.
Akullu grabbed back-to-back offensive rebounds before converting a layup for a 30-18 Lion lead.
Why Is It Important?: Vanguard is now positioned to win its first GSAC regular season title since the 2016-17 season.
What Was Said?: "I think it was great to get the win for our two amazing seniors," said Head Coach Russ Davis. "Mel and Airi are very important to this program and me. I'm very thankful for the both of them. Our team has tremendous energy. We didn't shoot very well but we made up for that by forcing lots of turnovers and only having eight ourselves. We're just trying to get better with each possession and everyday. Our energy has been really good and that is definitely helping us."
What's Next?: The Lions trek to Arizona for a pair of games next week. First up is OUAZ on Thursday, February 22 at 4:30 p.m. (PT).
