box score | photos

SAN DIEGO – Nyla Bailey scored 31 points with Brianna Colon adding 15 as Point Loma Nazarene held off Fresno Pacific in Golden Gym 60-56 Saturday afternoon.
 



The Sea Lions entered the contest tied with the Sunbirds (and two other teams) for fourth place in the Golden State Athletic Conference. The victory gives the team a little space between the two squads and improved PLNU's record to 6-6 in conference play and to 15-9 overall. FPU is now 5-7 in league play and 13-13 on the year.

The very close result was mirrored in the stats. Rebounds and shooting percentages for the two teams were nearly identical. Both teams had a dozen second chance points; and both scored almost equally off of turnovers.
 
Point Loma went to the line nine more times than Fresno and made six more points off of free throws. That helped the Green and Gold cause in the tough GSAC match.
 
The Sea Lions were without their second leading scorer on the year, Crissa Jackson.  The PLNU point guard was attending a wedding; but the show still went on led by Bailey who posted her fourth consecutive double-double Saturday.
 
Bailey was a difference maker for the Sea Lions. The 6-foot-3 forward put up 31 points and 10 rebounds. She blocked three shots and was 11-of-14 at the line. She had 23 of her points in the second half.
 
Colon added 15 points while Kiley Berlinski recorded 12 rebounds.
 
The Sunbirds' Brandi Blackwell had 11 points and 13 rebounds in the loss.
 
The GSAC contest was a dogfight throughout with the Sunbirds and Sea Lions trading leads early on. A Lindsey Hill three-pointer and four points from Bailey pushed PLNU ahead by seven with 3:38 left in the first.
 
The Sea Lions went into the break with a slim 29-25 lead, however, thanks to a late FPU run. PLNU's advantage was down to just one point before Colon's triple with 43 seconds remaining.
 
Three Bailey layups opened up the second half of play and it was all PLNU from that point on. The Sea Lions opened up a 10-point lead at 16:54 and went up by 13 soon after.
 
Fresno Pacific kept fighting though and charged back over the final minutes. The Sunbirds trimmed the deficit to six points with less than five minutes to go and to just two points at the 22 second mark after a three from Callie Rohrbacker.
 
But Bailey would make a pair of free throws and FPU missed on its last two chances. The triumph was the 18th-straight for Point Loma over their conference rivals.
 
PLNU will host Hope International University on Tuesday, Feb 7 at 5:30.