AZUSA, Calif.—Fresh off the best news just 24 hours ago that they are now the west region's No. 1 team, the host Azusa Pacific Cougars got perhaps the scare of their season, courtesy of visiting Hawai`i Hilo.

The Vulcans, playing with just seven healthy players and nursing an eight-game losing streak, were within just four points of the first-place Cougars in the fourth quarter before finally running out of steam and succumbing to a 81-62 defeat.

The Cougars survived to improve to 25-3 on the season and to 16-2 in the PacWest's top spot. The Vulcans fell to 6-14 on the year and are now 4-13 in the PacWest. Playing again without second-leading scorer and senior Safia Sheikh, they dropped their ninth game in a row.

UH Hilo freshman Allie Navarette continued to put up impressive numbers, leading both sides with 21 points and 14 rebounds.

After landing the top spot in the first official NCAA West Region poll of the season on Wednesday, the Cougars hope to just hold serve in the final week and a half of the season to be in line to host the west region tournament.  Although they were never in complete danger tonight, there was certainly still cause for concern.

UH Hilo led for most of the opening moments of the first quarter, taking an 8-5 lead at five minutes. Still leading a few minutes later after a pair of Navarette free throws (10-9), the Cougars closed the period on a 7-3 run to take a 16-13 margin into the second quarter.

In the second period, APU did what was expected of them—they advanced their lead and seemingly began to pull away. Their 38-25 margin at intermission was their largest of the game to that point.

But the Vulcans wouldn't go away. They chipped away in the third quarter, drawing to 49-44 after a Navarette three-pointer with 1:14 left in the period. The Cougars answered with back-to-back scores to take a nine point lead into the final ten minutes (53-44).

UH Hilo, playing their fourth game in six nights, came out firing in the fourth quarter. A three-pointer by Kailani Jones and free throws by Danielle Dacosta cut the lead to 53-49 less than a minute in. A 6-0 run by the hosts pushed the lead out to ten points, but Navarette scored on consecutive trips down the floor to make it 59-53 with 6:36 left.

The Cougars then put daylight between themselves and the pesky Vulcans for the final time. A 9-0 run, which included back-to-back treys by Abbigail Goodsell, was the dagger. APU would then close the game on a 21-9 blitz to account for the final 19-point victory.

Dacosta joined Navarette in double figure scoring totals with 18 points. So did Sara Shimizu with 10.

The Cougars controlled the boards with a 58-41 margin, and were led in the stat column by Gabrielle Kaiser's 21 points and ten rebounds.

The Vulcans will wrap up this five-game southern California road trip on Saturday with an afternoon bout in San Diego against Point Loma.