SAN DIEGO – The Sea Lions hosted the Cougars of Azusa Pacific for their third straight contest with one of the top three teams in the PacWest standings. The Cougars, coming off of a loss to Hawaii Pacific, now sit at second place in the standings with a 9-2 record. The Cougars held a seven-point advantage through the first half. The Sea Lions struggled early with turnovers, 11 in the half, which led to 14 points for APU. The Cougars shot 43.8% from three and outscored the Sea Lions from behind the arc by 18 points.
Coming out of the half the Sea Lions scored the first four points before the Cougars went on a 9-0 run to take a 12-point lead. PLNU would make one more surge and cut the lead to five before Azusa Pacific pushed their lead to 15 entering the fourth quarter. That deficit would prove too much for Point Loma to overcome as they fell to the Cougars 83-68. Turnovers were a thorn in the side of PLNU as they coughed the ball up 24 times leading to 27 Cougar points.
Roya Rustamzada would add to her conference-leading double-double total getting her 13
th on the season, 19 points and 15 rebounds.
Stephanie Williams scored 14 points for the Sea Lions while also tallying three rebounds, three blocks and two assists.
Grace Brady neared a second straight double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds to go along with three blocks.
Team Records
Point Loma (10-9, 5-7 PacWest), Azusa Pacific (19-3, 10-2 PacWest)
PacWest Implications
The Cougars stay in second place just behind the one-loss Sharks of Hawaii Pacific. The Sea Lions fall to 5-7 in conference play and will need to win most of their remaining games if they want to contend for a spot in the conference tournament.
The Turning Point
After PLNU cut the APU lead to three early in the third quarter, the Cougars rattled off nine-straight points to push their lead to 12 and out of reach for the Sea Lions.
Thoughts from Coach Faulkner
On APU's full court pressure: "This was a good learning game for us, they gave pretty good full-court pressure and we didn't handle it very well. We need to be better at finding open players and taking advantage of the fact that they are running two people at the basketball. It is something that we have faced a little bit this season, but not much. The 24 turnovers were really us not attacking them and getting back on our heels."
On their success scoring in the paint: "They are not a great half-court defensive team and that's why they run that defense, they are great at getting people to turn the ball over. But against their half-court defense we were able to attack them and get layups, leading to our success in the paint. We just didn't get enough opportunities against their half-court defense."
On keeping the top assist-to-turnover ratio team from moving the ball well and forcing them into 15 turnovers: "We played great half-court defense. Over the last five games we have played great half-court defense. We have learned and progressed so much through the course of this season and I feel like we are just about where we were at the end of last season as a half-court defensive team. The scores they got were off of our mistakes, if we can limit our mistakes it will be very difficult for teams to score on us. Their low assists came from us making them really have to work to run their offense."
On preparing for the Hawaii trip: "Our girls love this trip. They are excited about going and it is nice now that we aren't playing so many games in so few days. We will get some rest this week before we travel out there for two very important road games. I expect us to play well."
News and Notes
> Rustamzada is now tied for fifth all-time at PLNU in career rebounds at 902.
> The Cougars outscored the Sea Lions by 18 points from three-point range.
> Point Loma was out-rebounded for the second straight game, including losing the offensive rebounding battle 11-7.
> The Sea Lions got to the free throw line 21 times, the Cougars were there 28 times.
> APU now leads the all-time series 58-37, with PLNU still holding an advantage when playing at home 25-18.
Up Next
Point Loma heads to Hawaii next week where they will take on Chaminade on January 25 at 7:30 p.m. (PST) and Hawaii Hilo on January 27 at 7 p.m. (PST). The Sea Lions will be back home on February 3 when they host the Urban Knights of Academy of Art.
