After having their 14-game winning streak halted at Vanguard on Tuesday, the No. 2-ranked Sea Lions rebounded into a 24-point victory over Fresno Pacific Saturday afternoon, 71-47. PLNU improved to 21-2 overall and 12-2 in the Golden State Athletic Conference.
“We just played a little bit harder today,” said Assistant Coach Alan Nakamura. “The girls were fired up to be the best team they can be, and they're good at overcoming adversity.”
Though Tuesday's loss to the No. 5 team in the nation may negatively impact the Sea Lions' ranking in the top 25 poll to be published Tuesday, the conference blowout signaled that the Sea Lions are still a top contender in the NAIA.
“When we lost to Vanguard, we knew as a team it's not the end,” said senior guard Liah Ector, who helped the Sea Lions roar back to life Saturday with 18 points, 10 rebounds and six assists. “I mean, we split against Vanguard. It's not like they beat us in both games.”
The Sea Lions started the game aggressively, scoring eight unanswered points before FPU freshman forward Brandi Blackwell got the Sunbirds on the board. Ector was the first of three Sea Lions to hit double digits, hitting her fifth jumper in the 14th minute.
“We don't take Fresno lightly, so I just came out to play and did my thing,” Ector said. She was surprised but not disappointed that the Sunbirds didn't put more pressure on her as the game went on, she said.
Sea Lion senior forward Colleen Planeta sent her team into halftime with a three pointer for a 12-point lead. The Sea Lions never let up, and outscored Fresno Pacific 41-29 in the second half to double the lead by game's end.
Despite the significant margin of victory, Head Coach Bill Westphal thought his team could have done better.
“We struggled a little bit,” said Westphal. “It's difficult to play a team that's holding the ball a lot. We played about 10 different people and never really got our flow going.”
Despite a lack of continuity, PLNU shot 46.4 percent as a team, compared to Fresno's 40.4 percent and outrebounded the visitors 37-25.
Planeta led the offense with 22 points and had three blocks. Junior guard Amanda Franz had 14 points and sophomore forward Kaitlyn Trotter was a free throw away from double digits with nine points and also had six boards.
Junior forward Jessica Torrecillas and junior guard Michele Rebozzi led on Fresno's side of the court, with 18 and 14 points, respectively. The Sunbirds fell to 6-17 on the season and 3-10 in conference.
The Sea Lions will host unranked San Diego Christian at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday before taking on No. 9-ranked Azusa Pacific in Azusa, Calif., at 5:30 p.m. Saturday. APU moved into first place after PLNU's loss at VU, and are a half game ahead of the Sea Lions.
The APU game could mean quite a bit, not only in the conference standings, but nationally as well. Finishing the regular season in the top eight of the NAIA polls has important playoff implications, such as byes and matchups, so the six remaining games are important to the highly ranked Sea Lions.
“It's always good to be at home. I don't worry about things so much when we're at home,” said Westphal. “We'll have to see what we do at Azusa.”
-Nathan Scharn
