SAN DIEGO - Roya Rustamzada registered her PacWest-leading ninth double-double of the season with 22 points and 11 rebounds as the Point Loma rolled to an 86-58 victory over Hawaii Hilo on Saturday, Feb. 4.
 
The Sea Lions (19-3, 13-2 PacWest) have won five straight and 14 of their last 15. Each of the last five victories have come by at least 28 points. They remain in second place in the PacWest. The loss drops Hawaii Hilo to 5-12 and 5-9 in the PacWest.
 
The efficiency of the offense was again the story for the Sea Lions as they shot over 50 percent in each quarter, and 58.2 percent in the game.
 
"We are moving the ball really, really well right now, everyone is involved in the offense, and that has led to us clicking on all cylinders recently," said Point Loma's first-year head coach Lisa Faulkner. This is where we want to be at this time of the season and it is definitely showing."
 
The Sea Lions have now put up at least 83 points in all five wins during their streak, and have scored at least 80 points in seven of their last eight contests. They have moved into second place in the PacWest in scoring with 75.2 points per game.
 
Again the Sea Lions scored in a variety of ways as they went 32-of-55 from the field and 9-of-22 from behind the 3-point line. PLNU also made more free throws (13) than the Vulcans attempted (12).
 
"The one of the main four stats we look at is free throw rate, and our goal this game was to keep them off the line and to under 15 attempts in the game, it is a huge statistic for us," explained Faulkner. "It means we are keeping people in front of us, keeping our hands up and not giving them anything easy."
 
Point Loma held Hawaii Hilo to just 36.8 percent shooting in the game, including just 30.0 percent in the second half as they went cold from 3-point range (2-of-8). PLNU continues to lead the PacWest in scoring defense (56.5 ppg) and field goal percentage defense (35.9).
 
"That is the advantage of having bigger guards," said Faulkner. "Brunk and Rustamzada are both 6-0 and Madison West is 5-11 and they all have long arms so we always talk about getting a hand up and making the opposing players make difficult shots over us. When you have length it makes a big difference. Our point guards are smaller but they do a good job flying around.
 
"When we talk about defensive effort it is really a team-thing and we are doing an exceptional job of playing team basketball on both ends," added Faulkner.
 
PLNU also received 17 points from Alex Brunk who was 6-of-7 from the field and 5-of-6 at the free throw line. Sydney Tonack added 15 points and six boards.
 
Kim Schmelz had a game-high 25 points for Hawaii Hilo. She went 9-of-15 from the field and 5-of-7 from behind the arc. She was the only Vulcan in double-figures. UHH led PLNU late in the first quarter 20-16, but the Sea Lions closed out the quarter on a 10-0 run and never again trailed in the contest.
 
Point Loma will now prepare to welcome in Azusa Pacific on Thursday, Feb. 9 to close out the 2016-17 home schedule. PLNU will also be looking to get revenge on a Cougar team which defeated the Sea Lions 74-65 on Jan 16, snapping their nine-game winning streak. The game will tipoff at 5:30 p.m.
 
"We definitely have that game circled on our calendar for a couple reasons," Faulkner explained. "The first is to have a nice farewell for our five seniors in their final home game. They mean a lot to me even in my first year.
 
"The second is that Azusa Pacific also beat us a few weeks ago so there is a lot we need to improve on from when we played them the first time," she added. "It has been a good rivalry over the years and I have no doubt we will be ready to play. I am fired up for this game."