NAMPA, Idaho – The Sea Lions headed on the road to Idaho to face Northwest Nazarene University this afternoon. PLNU struggled shooting out of the gate, going 1-for-6 from three in the first quarter. They were unable to find their range throughout the first half and combined with some early turnovers led to a deficit of 12 at halftime.
That halftime deficit would prove to be too steep to overcome for PLNU. They were able to outscore the Nighthawks 26-19 in the third quarter and briefly took the lead before NNU pushed their lead back to five to end the quarter. The teams would trade baskets in the fourth and the Sea Lions were never able to come within more than four points while trying to close out the game.
Tayla Hepburn led Point Loma in scoring with 25 points to go along with seven rebounds.
Alex Brunk, shooting .500 on the night, scored 23 points for PLNU including going 11-for-13 at the free-throw line.
Roya Rustamzada would once again secure a double-double to extend her streak to five games with at least a double-double, she scored 10 points to go along with 11 rebounds as well as dishing out six assists.
Team Records
Point Loma (4-1), Northwest Nazarene (4-1)
The Turning Point
The Sea Lions opened the second half on a 15-2 run to take the lead in the third quarter, the Nighthawks responded with a 12-5 run that put NNU back in the lead for good.
Thoughts from Coach Faulkner
On the team's struggle with turnovers: "They play a bit of a unique defense that we haven't see yet this season. They do a good job of putting pressure on the ball and some of those turnovers were just mishandling and trying to force some things, especially inside where we had such an advantage."
On the defensive effort: "We pride ourselves on being a really good defensive team, one of the top in the conference. They made a lot of big time threes early, and it took us 20 minutes to get used to the style of play. We knew if we wanted to get back into the game it would come down to us getting stops and being able to score off of those stops. Unfortunately, they made more plays than us and it is really hard to beat a team that goes 11-of-22 from three."
On what the team can take away from the game: "I told the team after the game that this will make us better in the long run. To be tested on the road, in a regional game, against a tough team like that will only make us better. We learned about ourselves defensively and that we need to take advantages of our matchups with our size and our outside shooting. We have young players who will only get better throughout the season and we don't want to peak in November, we want to peak in February and March. As a team, we need to trust the process and trust that we will get there."
On the quick turnaround to the tournament this weekend: "That's the best part about basketball, you get a lot of these opportunities to get the loss out of your system quickly. It will be nice to be together as a team tomorrow, have a great Thanksgiving as a team, and then have two games at home where we will have the chance to get better and hopefully it will propel us into conference play."
News and Notes
> Despite a big height advantage, the Sea Lions were outscored 42-38 in the paint.
> The Nighthawks went 11-for-22 from three-point range.
> This is the second consecutive season where the Sea Lions started 4-1.
> Rustamzada now has 5-straight double-doubles to begin the season.
> Hepburn led the team in scoring, outright, for the first time this season. She went 11-for-13 from the field.
Up Next
The Sea Lions will be at home on Friday and Saturday as they host the Thanksgiving Classic tournament. PLNU will play Cal State LA at 5 p.m. on Friday and Cal State Dominguez Hills at 5 p.m. on Saturday.
