[Box score]
SAN DIEGO – The spotlight was on PLNU on Saturday afternoon for the PacWest double-header with the Hawaii Pacific Sharks. ESPN was on campus as part of the NCAA DII Basketball Showcase which airs a total of 36 games throughout the DII basketball season. The Sea Lions had a tough matchup with the Sharks who currently sit at second place in conference play with only one loss on the season. A tightly contested first quarter led to a two-point advantage for the Sharks after 10 minutes of play, but the game was all HPU after the start of the second quarter. A 9-0 run at the beginning of the second quarter left the Sea Lions in a hole they couldn't climb out of. Point Loma struggled to find their offense and put only nine points on the board in both the second and third quarters. PLNU would again play tightly with the Sharks in the fourth quarter but the damage was done, and the Sea Lions fell 70-48.
Roya Rustamzada led the Sea Lions in scoring with 11 points and also grabbed 13 rebounds for here 11th double-double, tying the PacWest lead. Freshmen,
Grace Brady and
Cara Liggins each scored nine points to go along with seven rebounds on the night, Brady added four block for the game as well. Point Loma also got great minutes from lone sophomore,
Carol Schroeder, who scored eight points on 3-of-4 shooting and also had four steals on the night.
Team Records
Point Loma (9-9, 4-6 PacWest), Hawaii Pacific (12-2, 6-1 PacWest)
PacWest Implications
Point Loma has now lost three straight games in PacWest play dropping them to 4-6 on the season. Hawaii Pacific moves to 6-1, now just one game back in the win column on conference leader Azusa Pacific who sits at 7-1.
The Turning Point
After keeping the score close through the first quarter, the Sharks went on a 9-0 run to open the second quarter and the Sea Lions were unable to recover.
Thoughts from Coach Faulkner
On the opportunity to play on ESPN: "It was awesome. There was great energy in the gym, it was nice that fans showed up. To play on national television is a unique experience and I'm glad that ESPN was able to come here. Hopefully our girls have more of those opportunities in the future."
On the toughness of HPU: "They have traditionally been very physical and they have some strong bodies. It is hard to prepare for that physicality when we are playing five games in nine days and only one day of game prep. You can only tell them what's going to happen, you can't show them, and I think we were a little surprised initially at that toughness. We battled, and I was proud of the way we kept playing hard. Ultimately, they are the better team right now and they made big plays."
On how the tough schedule has affected the players physically: "No question. If you look at the shooting percentages you have to believe that fatigue plays a part in that. We don't have a ton of depth so playing significant minutes every night you could see that they didn't have the legs to make shots. I don't want to use that as an excuse though, if we don't have our legs we need to find ways to get easy baskets and convert on those. We are working on it every day in practice and we are getting better."
News and Notes
> Rustamzada earned her 11th double-double on the season, with 11 points and 13 rebounds.
> The Sea Lions went 12-of-14 from the charity stripe for one of their best marks of the season, 87.5 percent.
> Alysha Marcucci led the Sharks with 17 points, four rebounds and four steals.
> The Sea Lions had 22 turnovers in the game, their second-highest total on the season.
> The 48 points scored by PLNU is the lowest total of the season, their previous low was 59 against Biola.
> In a season already riddled with injuries, PLNU lost one of their reserve players,
Isabel Turk, to an ankle injury just before halftime.
Up Next
The Sea Lions play again on Thursday when they travel to Irvine to take on Concordia, The women tip-off at 5:30 p.m. The team will back at home next Saturday, January 20th when they host PacWest rival Azusa Pacific, women tip-off at 2 p.m.
