SAN DIEGO - Now that the clock has finally reached 00:00 the Point Loma women's basketball team can let out a collective sigh of relief as it held on to defeat Holy Names, 48-46, on Saturday, Dec. 17.
 
PLNU scored just one point in the third quarter and shot only 16 percent in the second half but were able to pull off their third straight win to move into fourth place in the PacWest standings at 3-1 (8-2 overall). The loss drops HNU into a tie for 10th in the PacWest at 1-3 (1-9 overall).
 
After leading 34-23 at the half, nothing went right for the Sea Lions over the final 20 minutes. They were 0-of-13 in the third quarter as the Hawks outscored them 13-1 in the period to go up 36-35 and force PLNU to come from behind in the fourth. Fortunately, the Sea Lions showed the competitive spirit as Brunk scored eight points and Viettry added five to grind out the win.
 
Brunk led all scorers with 13 points. She was 7-of-9 at the free throw line. Roya Rustamzada recorded her PacWest-leading sixth double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Anna Viettry hit the Sea Lions' only two 3-pointers in the contest, and finished with eight points on 3-of-4 shooting, including going 2-of-2 from long range. For the game PLNU shot just 29 percent and 13 percent from behind the 3-point line. However, Point Loma did take advantage of their trips to the charity stripe, going 16-of-21, to help pull out the win.
 
Jeana Magana paced the Hawks with 13 points. She was the only Holy Names student-athlete to reach double-figures. HNU outscored PLNU by nine points from 3-point range and off the bench (15-6). This was the first time Kassidy Gengenbacher has not reached double-figures in scoring for the Sea Lions since the opening game of the season.
 
Holy Names had a chance to tie or win the game in the final moments after stealing the ball from the Sea Lions with 3.4 second left, but the pass was low and bounced out of bounds as time expired to preserve Point Loma's lead, and ultimately the victory.
 
"After only scoring one point in the third quarter, not making a field goal and getting down, the biggest thing we can take away from this game is that we found a way to win," said first-year Point Loma head coach Lisa Faulkner. "We got a few stops when we needed stops and we got baskets when we needed baskets. That is why we ended up winning this game despite it not being our best performance of the year."
 
While the offense struggled, the Sea Lions still played quality defense, holding HNU to just 46 points and forcing them into 22 turnovers.
 
"Our defense has become part of identity," Faulkner explained. "We strive to hold teams to low field goal percentages and making every player on the other team work to score baskets. We have built that into what we do as a team and if you look at tonight we held another team to 36 percent shooting and 46 points. If you hold a team to 46 points you are generally going to win that game."
Point Loma will look to continue that great effort on the defensive end when it faces Dixie State in St. George, Utah on Monday, Dec. 19 at 4 p.m. (PST).
 
"The beauty of basketball is that you get another chance to play better and usually it comes quickly," Faulkner. "Hopefully we have a good practice in Vegas and get this one out of the system. We had a good postgame talk as a team and got our frustrations out. No one wants to play poorly, and we are very solution-based, so I think we will have a good performance in Utah."