SAN DIEGO - Alex Brunk had 21 points along with a career-high 16 rebounds, and Roya Rustamzada added a double-double, as the front court for the Point Loma women's basketball team dominated in a 71-58 victory over BYU-Hawaii on Saturday (Jan. 30).
 
The Sea Lions (14-5) have now won six straight games to improve to 8-4 in the PacWest. They also continue to separate themselves from the next tier of teams in the conference. PLNU currently sits in sixth place in the PacWest with a 2.5 game lead on seventh-place Hawaii Hilo (5-6 PacWest). BYU-Hawaii (7-10, 4-8 PacWest) fell into a tie for ninth in the PacWest standings with the loss.  
 
Point Loma's starting front court of Brunk, Rustamzada and Tonack had one of their best games of the year defensively and on the glass. Brunk paced the way on the boards and in the scoring column. She made all nine of her free throw attempts to overcome an offshooting day. She also hit the offensive glass hard with a game-high five offensive rebounds. The sophomore added four assists, two blocks and two steals. This was her sixth double-double of the season.
 
Rustamzada registered her third double-double of the season with 10 points and 11 rebounds. All but one of her rebounds came on the defensive glass. Sydney Tonack added 13 points, eight rebounds and two big blocks while shooting 5-of-8 from the field. Guard Madison West also chipped in with 12 points and seven rebounds, and Amy Ogren just missed being in double-figures with nine points.
 
There were lots of rebounds to be had tonight as PLNU and BYU-Hawaii combined to shoot just 32 percent from the field. Point Loma had its second-worst shooting performance of the year, going 19-of-61 from the floor (31 percent). However, PLNU was able to overcome their shooting struggles by forcing BYU-Hawaii into seven more turnovers (21-14) and outrebounding them by one (45-44). This is the sixth time Point Loma has outrebounded its opponent this season, and the Sea Lions are a perfect 6-0 in those contests.
 
"If you would have told me Alex, Roya and Madison would be a combined 9-for- 41, I would have told we would lose," said Point Loma assistant coach Dwayne Cosby, "but our defense stepped up, and we squeaked out a tough win today. We had to get creative because their offense is initiated from the high post, so we had four different players play center today. The front court did a good job today giving their post different looks. I thought Brunk played the best post defense we have played all year, and she was relentless on the boards."
 
PLNU matched or outscored BYUH in every quarter but the Seasiders were still in the game in the fourth quarter. They cut the Sea Lions' lead to six points (59-53) on a layup by Celeste Claw with 8:05 remaining, before PLNU rallied to outscore the Seasiders 10-2 down the stretch and claim the victory.
 
Jiashan Cui had a game-high 17 points to pace BYU-Hawaii. Valerie Nawahine added 12 points and nine rebounds, and Natallia Cravens chipped in with a team-leading 10 rebounds.
 
Point Loma will step out of conference for its next contest on Wednesday, Feb. 3 when it hosts Cal State San Bernardino at 7:00 p.m. PLNU will also be honoring coach Bill Westphal prior to the contest. Coach Westphal will retire at the end of the season.