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SAN DIEGO - The Point Loma women's basketball team saw its comeback effort against Academy of Art fall just short in a 74-71 loss on Thursday, Jan. 31.
The loss is the first for PLNU in its last three games. The Sea Lions are now 7-10 on the season and 3-6 in the Pacific West Conference. The victory keeps AAU in the third spot in the race for the PacWest tournament with a 7-2 mark in conference (14-6 overall).
The Sea Lions fell behind by nine at the half and trailed by eight with just over three minutes remaining, and on both occasions made runs to get back in the game but could never get the basket to retake the lead. After AAU went on top 70-62 with 3:31 remaining,
Savannah Erskine would hit a 3-pointer and
Andrea Campbell got a put-back layup to cut the lead to three. A pair of free throws by
Callie Rhoads would get PLNU within one with 2:09 left.
The Sea Lions would get a chance to take the lead on each of their next two possessions but would be unable to capitalize. Their best chance came on a steal during the press by Rhoads who got the ball ahead to
Carlotta Kloppenburg, but AAU's defense recovered and forced Kloppenburg into a contested layup which fell off the rim with just over a minute remaining. The Urban Knights would then hit all four of their free throw attempts in the final minute to earn the win.
Rhoads led Point Loma with 17 points and seven rebounds. This was her sixth straight game with double-figure points. Erskine added 16 points and team-leading four assists. Kloppenburg also hit four 3-pointers to rack up 12 points. Zoie Sheng and Jordan Rogers each had 16 points to lead the Urban Knights.
The Sea Lions' next game will be Saturday, Feb. 2 when they host Dominican beginning at 2:00 p.m.