SAN DIEGO – Point Loma traveled to the Bay Area Thursday night to open their PacWest schedule at Academy of Art. Still looking for their first win of the season, the Sea Lions put together their best offensive outing on the way to an 83-65 win over the Urban Knights. The team had four different double-digit scorers with Sydney Peterson leading the way with 18 points.
 
The Urban Knights scored early and often in the first quarter, taking the initial lead and pushing it to as many as five points. Point Loma tied the game at 15 and just 16 seconds later, a steal and layup by Melanie Quijano gave the Sea Lions the lead for good. PLNU extended their four-point lead after the first quarter to a 10-point lead by the half.
 
Point Loma locked in defensively in the third quarter, holding ARTU to only eight points in the frame. The Sea Lions put up 19 points of their own and held a 21-point advantage heading into the final quarter of play. The Urban Knights found ways to score in the fourth quarter, but were unable to stop PLNU defensively, and fell by 18 points.
 
While Peterson led the team in scoring, she also dished out six assists and grabbed five rebounds. Carol Schroeder was a force off of the bench, scoring 15 points and grabbing 13 rebounds (seven offensive), for her first career double-double. Cara Liggins also recorded a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Melanie Quijano was another key bench player scoring 13 points to go along with seven rebounds, six assists, and four steals.

Turning Point
While the Sea Lions held a 10-point advantage going into the third quarter, their defensive effort in the third earned them a 21-point lead and full control of the game heading into the last quarter. 

Team Records
PLNU (1-5, 1-0 PacWest), ARTU (1-3, 0-1 PacWest) 

Thoughts from Coach Faulkner
On what her team executed well: "It starts on the defensive end as well as rebounding. The third quarter we went on a nice run and we held them to eight points. Really it was one and done for them, they had 12 offensive rebounds in the first half and only two in the second half. That allowed us to get out in transition, get easy baskets, and that's how we built up that lead."

On how their defense and rebounding led to good offensive possessions: "Defensive rebounds led to us getting some easy transition looks. Carol coming in and getting seven offensive rebounds, getting us extra possessions, was huge for us. Any time we got into a lull it seemed like we did get a couple of offensive rebounds, got more opportunitites, and that was key for us on the offensive end." 

On the balanced scoring effort: "We have a lot of talent and we have women that are really capable of scoring. It is a matter of confidence. We have some youth and we have some players that haven't played as many minutes in the past as they are getting this season. So to see the lid come off of the basket a little bit for us was really important. To have several people score in double digits was important as well because it's proof that if we play together we will have really good opportunities."

On facing Dominican and Diaz on Saturday: "They're a good team. Obviously, Diaz is the defending Co-Player of the Year in the conference, she is very talented. For us, it's making her shot attempts contested. Players like that score, so she is going to find ways to score. We need to make it difficult for her and not allow other players to get easy looks. If we can keep her contested and not allow the other group to easy opportunities we will be fine defensively. That is what we have preaching all year and we will get a chance to see how well we can implement that game plan against a top-level player."

News and Notes
> The 13 rebounds was a career-high for Schroeder.
> Quijano notched career-highs in scoring, rebounds, assists, and steals.
> The Urban Knights also had four double-digit scorers with Brianna Cates leading their team with 18 points.
> Liggins' earned her second double-double of the season, matching her total number of double-doubles from last season.
> This is the team's first win to open conference play, since the 2012-2013 season. 

Up Next
Point Loma will continue their Bay Area trip when they face Dominican and Preseason Player of the Year, Natalie Diaz, on Saturday at 5 p.m.