[PLNU Tournament Game Notes]

SAN DIEGO—The Sea Lions head to Riverside, Calif. this weekend to compete in the PacWest conference tournament. The team begins play on Thursday afternoon when they play Concordia-Irvine at 2:45 p.m.
 
Season overview
The Sea Lions returned only two starters from last year's team that posted one of the best records in Point Loma history. With an influx of young talent, as well as a DI transfer, the team hoped to build another solid effort for the 2017-18 season. Adversity struck the Sea Lions early in the season when senior Alex Brunk suffered a season-ending injury. They would then lose their second leading scorer when junior transfer, Tayla Hepburn, left the team midseason.
 
Despite their early season adversity, the team was able to come through a tough stretch of the schedule in a good position to make a late season run into the tournament. The team turned a 4-6 PacWest record into a 12-8 final record to earn the fifth seed for the conference tournament. PacWest Player and Defender of the Year, Roya Rustamzada, led the team throughout the season recording 17 double-doubles on the way. She averaged 15.9 points and 11.5 rebounds to go along with 4.3 assists, 2.3 steals, and 1.1 blocks for the season, leading the team in every category except blocks.
 
The team has also gotten solid contributions from freshmen Sydney Peterson and Cara Liggins, who have also averaged double-digit scoring for the season. Senior Stephanie Williams stepped into a starting role after the injury to Brunk and has flourished as a two-way threat for Point Loma. While the depth of the team is not the strength they thought they would have going into the season, the rotation has solidified around their young players.
 
The Sea Lions defense was the story of the last part of the season as freshman Grace Brady developed into a premier shot blocker, averaging 3.1 blocks per game on the season. Point Loma averaged 6.7 blocks per game as a team on the season, for the second-highest average in Division II. The Sea Lions also held teams to 64.3 points per game in the last 10 games of the season and look to keep that trend going as they head into the tournament.
 
Season series against Concordia-Irvine
In two games against the Eagles the season the Sea Lions are 1-1, each team winning while on the road. When CUI visited San Diego in early January they came away with a 78-70 victory over Point Loma behind an offense that made 10 threes on the night. PacWest Freshman of the Year, Michaela Vanderklugt led the Eagles with 22 points in the game along with her teammate, Montana Walters, who went 5-of-10 from three to score 22 as well. The Sea Lions had double-digit scoring efforts from three players, but were unable to close the gap in crunch time.
 
Point Loma would take their revenge just 15 days later when they made the short trip to Irvine to face the Eagles once again. This time the freshmen stepped up for PLNU, Sydney Peterson scored 30 points, Grace Brady put up a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds, and Cara Liggins added 15 points of her own. The team held Vanderklugt to only 11 points in this outing but Walters was able to put up 19 points in the game. Point Loma was able to hold CUI to 23.8 percent from three, allowing only five made threes in the game.
 
They Said It…
Coach Faulkner on the team's tournament goals: "As always, our goal is to play our best basketball. I feel like we have been playing good basketball over the course of the last month or so. This is the time of year when you want to be peaking and I feel like we are right now. Concordia is a tough opponent, and they have been playing well recently and I think it's going to be a good battle."
 
Coach Faulkner on the challenge of possibly playing three straight days: "That's something that we have actually prepared for this season, especially in the preseason. We put ourselves in situations where we were playing three games in four days or two days back-to-back. We knew that to win the PacWest tournament we would be in a similar situation and the regional tournament will require the same as well. We hoped at the beginning of the season that we would have more depth at this time of the year. Right now you are playing on adrenaline, and the chance to keep your season alive, but I feel that we are prepared for the task ahead of us."
 
Liggins on playing in her first PacWest tournament: "I'm really excited for the tournament and I think we have a good chance to go out there and beat Concordia, and hopefully move on to face a tough team in Azusa Pacific as well."
 
Williams on continuing their tough defensive efforts against Concordia: "We need to stop double-zero; she is a great shooter. We have been saying all season that if we all lock down defensively, the offense will open up for us."
 
Rustamzada on the season overall: "Obviously, this year was not something we expected. We dealt with a lot of adversity. We bounced back I think we are playing really well, playing the way we want to play at this time of year, especially with a young team. I'm really proud of all of us."
 
Rustamzada on the team's tournament goals: "We want to win the whole thing. I really believe it is possible. We have a great matchup with Concordia, we are 1-1 against them this season, so we are definitely capable of getting a win against them. APU is always fun to play and are a great matchup as well, but we want to win the whole thing and I believe we are capable of doing that."
 
Regional Implications
The Sea Lions are currently on the outside looking in of the NCAA West Regional. A loss would likely end any hopes of Point Loma earning the heavily contested eighth seed in the region. While the team will probably need help from other teams in the region falling in their respective tournaments, a win on Thursday would put the Sea Lions one step closer to earning that final tournament spot.