BOX SCORE | PHOTOS
SAN DIEGO – Crissa Jackson had 26 points, nine rebounds and five assists, and Brianna Colon had 24 points as Point Loma Nazarene defeated visiting Fresno Pacific 72-64 Saturday afternoon in Golden Gym. PLNU overcame a seven-point second half deficit in route to the conference win.
The Sea Lions improved to 12-14 overall and the team's 7-11 mark in conference has the Sea Lions firmly eighth in the Golden State Athletic Conference standings with just two more games remaining in the regular season. The top eight teams make the GSAC postseason tournament.
The last-place Sunbirds fell to 8-20, 1-17 GSAC.
PLNU and FPU traded leads 12 times in the very hotly-contested game. The Sea Lions led by as much as seven points and the Sunbirds three in the opening stanza. At halftime the score was 32-31 PLNU.
Fresno Pacific gained control when the second half began. With 16:29 to play the Sunbirds were capitalizing on Point Loma turnovers and missed shots and had taken a seven-point lead.
The Sea Lions slowly chipped away at the deficit and evened the score at 56-all with six minutes to play after a Colon steal and layup. FPU went back in front by two until another Colon jumper knotted the game once again.
Jackson drained a three on the following possession and from that point on the game belonged to PLNU. Two Kiley Berlinski free throws, a jumper from Erin Andersen and a two more at the stripe from Colon had the Sea Lions up by eight, the final margin of victory for Point Loma.
“We finished the game well,” said PLNU Coach Bill Westphal. “But we struggled for 35 minutes. Thankfully, they figured it out and we finished strong.”
Though the Sea Lions were paced offensively by the one-two punch of Jackson and Colon, Andersen provided a big boost off the bench. She wreaked havoc with the Sunbirds' inside game and forced much-needed turnovers.
“Erin came in a played with fire,” said Westphal. “She brought energy and was a presence on defense and on offensive screens. She gave us a much-need lift and was the difference in this game.”
Callie Rhoads chipped in with nine points for the Sea Lions.
Jenay Herring led FPU with 17 points with Jessica Torrecillas adding 16 points.
The Sea Lions hit the road on Thursday with a 5:30 pm tilt at Biola before wrapping up the regular season home schedule with a game next Saturday against Hope International.
