SAN DIEGO – After opening their conference schedule with a win on Thursday night, the Sea Lions traveled to Dominican to take on a tough Penguins team. It was a tall order as they went up against the Preseason PacWest Player of the Year in Natalie Diaz, who is averaging 32 points per game on the season. The Penguins got out to a hot start in the fourth quarter, and while the Sea Lions mounted a comeback over the next two quarters, DUC was able to secure the win, 77-65.
Point Loma struggled to find an offensive rhythm in the first quarter, allowing the Penguins to get out to as much as a 19-point lead in the frame. Down 17 points after the first quarter, the Sea Lions outscored Dominican 39-25 over the next two quarters, cutting their lead to three going into the fourth quarter. Diaz, who spent much of the third quarter in foul trouble, came back in the fourth and immediately got the Penguins offense going. The Sea Lions struggled to find their offense and Dominican capitalized on their free throws in the fourth to seal their win.
Dominican's Diaz had another huge scoring effort as she totaled 37 points in 30 minutes of play. For PLNU,
Sydney Peterson led with 16 points, shooting 6-of-8 from the field and 2-of-3 from three-point range. Point Loma got another great effort from their bench players,
Carol Schroeder totaled nine points and four rebounds and freshman
Haylee Saurette scored seven points and grabbed five boards.
Team Records
PLNU (1-6, 1-1 PacWest), DUC (4-1, 2-0 PacWest)
Thoughts from Coach Faulkner
On facing a tough Penguins team: "Yes they are very good and Diaz is returning player of the year so she's very difficult to defend. The game plan was to make it difficult for her to score and to make sure that the the other players didn't have big games unfortunately we gave up big game to number 25."
On the team showing fight after a slow start: "Our energy and effort were disappointing the first quarter which lead us into getting into a big hole and allowing them to score 31 pts. To the girls credit they turned it around and competed the rest of the way we just struggled to score in the 4th and that hurt us."
On what the team needs to do to find success: "When we are aggressive and get to the paint it is positive for our offense. We will continue to work on finishing and finding ways to get easy baskets. Ultimately we have to continue to get better defensively and compete for 40 minutes."
On preparing for their first home conference game: "It will be nice to be back home and it is a big game Wednesday so we will take Monday and Tuesday to really prepare. I love this team and believe in them so much. The season is long and again it is about getting better everyday."
News and Notes
> The Sea Lions had their best three-point shooting performance of the season, going 8-of-19 (42.1%) from beyond the arc.
> Point Loma had the defensive rebounding advantage, 35-31.
> The Penguins grabbed seven offensive rebounds for eight second chance points.
> The Sea Lions had 18 turnovers, leading to 24 points off of turnovers for Dominican.
Up Next
The Sea Lions will be back at home next week to host their first home conference games, Biola comes to Golden Gym on Wednesday, tip is set for 5:30 p.m.
