IRVINE, Calif. – Camryn Kiernan scored a career-high 19 points and Genesis Hopkins led the defensive charge to help knock off Azusa Pacific for the first time since 2021.

The Golden Eagles snapped a 10-game losing streak against the perennial PacWest contender and did so by leading the entire contest.

CUI led by as many as 17 and came out firing right away. Myia Collins, Kiernan and then Hannah Vela each hit their first attempt from three-point land to put CUI up 11-3 in the first few minutes.

Kiernan canned four treys and added three steals and three rebounds.  The 19 points surpassed her previous career-high high that came a couple years ago against Cal Poly Humboldt.

Meanwhile, Hopkins had a career-high five blocks and also grabbed a team-best nine rebounds. She shot 5-for-7 from the floor which marked the most made field goals in her short Concordia career so far.

Freshman Asia Darcuiel added 10 points on 5-of-10 shooting. She was pivotal during a 9-0 run to close the third quarter. The crucial sequence included Darcuiel forcing a couple steals before she finished back-to-back breakaway layups to help keep APU at bay.  CUI led 55-41 heading into the fourth and never looked back on its way to a 67-53 victory.

The Golden Eagles did shoot a higher percentage from the floor than APU (48 percent to just 34 percent for the Cougars). CUI also was much more efficient from downtown as the Green and Gold made 50 percent of their three-pointers on 6-of-12 shooting. APU on the other hand, went just 5-for-24 from behind the arc.

Both defenses were very active and each team finished with 26 turnovers. Six different Golden Eagles were credited with multiple steals.

"We still have a lot of growing to do in many areas of our game," explained CUI head coach Christine Collins-Kiernan. "Tonight we had big moments from different players, and we also had stretches where our inexperience showed. But this group is committed to building, to moving forward, and to doing it together. As we continue to mature and pair that with our genuine joy for the game and our deep competitiveness, good things can come from that. Even on our toughest days, this team has been a joy to coach, and you could see that in a win like this."

After a week off to focus on finals, CUI's next home contest is slated for a Monday matinee on December 15 at 1 p.m. against the Dominican Penguins.

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