SAN DIEGO—Point Loma will be on the road this weekend, heading to San Rafael, Calif. to compete in the 2018-2019 PacWest Basketball Championships. The No. 4 seed Sea Lions will tip-off against the No. 5 seed Fresno Pacific Sunbirds in the nightcap at 7:15 p.m. For further information check out the PacWest Tournament Central page, here.
 
Season overview
It was a rocky start for Point Loma as they began the season trying to find their identity after losing PacWest Player and Defender of the Year, Roya Rustamzada to graduation. They lost another key starter in Stephanie Williams from last year's team, but returned their young core of sophomores who came in to the season with a year of collegiate competition under their belts. The Sea Lions began the year 2-8, going 0-5 in non-conference games, and struggling to find any sort of rhythm.
 
After dropping back-to-back games to two of the top teams in the conference, Azusa Pacific and Hawaii Pacific, Point Loma found themselves 6-10 on the season (5-5 in PacWest play) But they had kept pace with both teams and were finding ways to put together solid stretches of great play. The team finished out their trip to Hawaii with two wins and continued to steamroll the PacWest on their way to a 12-game winning streak. During their unbeaten run, the Sea Lions earned wins over Dominican, Hawaii Pacific, and Fresno Pacific, all teams they had fallen to earlier in the season.
 
Point Loma has now matched their most PacWest wins in program history, putting together a 17-5 record in conference play. During their win streak the Sea Lions have held opponents to 56.83 points per game, winning by an average of almost 13 points per game. Sydney Peterson has led the team in scoring average 15.3 ppg on the season, Cara Liggins is just behind her averaging 14.6 ppg and leading the team with 8.4 rebounds per game. Grace Brady had led the conference in blocks on the season with 102, she consistently ranked in the top-5 in the country for total blocks and blocks per game.
 
Season series against Fresno Pacific
The Sea Lions and the Sunbirds split their season series 1-1, with each team securing a win on their home court. It was at Fresno Pacific that PLNU dropped to 2-3 in conference and 2-8 on the season in a game that came down to the final minutes. Since that first meeting, Point Loma has gone 16-2 including winning the grudge match back in San Diego to push their winning streak to 11-straight games at the time.
 
Sydney Peterson and Cara Liggins led the Sea Lions in scoring in both games, with Peterson going for 22 points at Fresno. Grace Brady earned her second double-double of the season at home scoring 14 points with 10 rebounds and six blocks. Bree Alvarez and Jessica Malazarte were the top scorers in each game for the Sunbirds. Each scored 20 or more at home, both were held to 15 or fewer points at PLNU.
 
They said it… 
Coach Faulkner on her team outlook for the tournament: "I feel like we are in a good place. I think that this week is really about prepping ourselves as best we can for, hopefully, three games in three days. Part of that is practicing and being efficient in practice, another part is taking care of our bodies and making sure that we're ready to go on Thursday. We are in a good space and we have some momentum going into the conference tournament."

Isabel Turk on the key to the team's run and how they can extend it this weekend: "With the win streak a lot of it is our chemistry and how our chemistry has developed over the year. We started out trying to see how the new players would fit in and they have really grown in to their roles. The bench has been able to have huge contributions, the starters are killing it, and everyone is doing their part. Keeping that chemistry where it needs to be has allowed to beat those tough teams throughout the season."
 
Coach Faulkner on facing Fresno Pacific: "They are a talented team. The first game was really competitive at their place, the game here was competitive as well. They have a lot of talent and they play hard. Looking ahead to the game, I think it will come down to who can defend and who can rebound. When it comes to tournament basketball it comes down to who is playing the best team basketball and who is able to execute down the stretch."
 
Peterson on facing Fresno in the first round: "For right now, we need to take practice day by day. We need to be tuned in to our drills and the scouting report to properly prepare. The last game we played to our strengths and exposed their weaknesses. We moved the ball in transition and they don't have a lot of depth so we tried to expose that by pushing the ball."
 
Coach Faulkner on how her team can return to the championship game this year: "The nice thing is we have seen that we can compete with anybody in the conference. Outside of Azusa, we have beaten everyone who is in front of us. It starts with Thursday, with us performing well against Fresno, we can't look past that and we need to take care of business that day. If we get a chance to play Azusa we will have to play a solid game, that is a really good team. They won the regular season and they have a lot of talent. It's us peaking at the right moments, it is being able to take advantage of mistakes other teams make, and when it comes to tournament play it's the team that gets hot. But now, it's a matter of controlling the things we can control and executing in those games."
 
Yuendie Guridi on the strengths of the team and being able to get back to a third straight championship appearance: "We are a very disciplined and well-coached team, so I think that gives us a great foundation. I think another strength, that people often see as a weakness, is that we are young but I just think that means we have a lot of fresh energy, and for girls who have played together for a couple years now I think that is great."
 
Guridi on this young team compared to the senior-led teams from the past two years: "A lot of people would think that the experience factor is a disadvantage with a young team, but the way I see it our young players have seen a lot of playing time this year or saw a significant amount of playing time last year. I don't see them as young, per se, because I already consider them experienced."
 
Peterson on coming back to the tournament as a sophomore: "As much as we do miss Roya, we are basically the same team moving in and we have that experience. Being the underdog coming in, everyone tends to doubt us, but we are coming in similar to last year. We face Fresno in the first round, who we have already played twice this season, and should we win we will face Azusa again in the second round. I think we have a lot of experience on our backs in regards to getting where we want to be and I think we will be ready."

Regional Implications
With their tough start to the season, the Sea Lions will likely need the automatic bid from winning the PacWest Championship in order to earn an NCAA berth. The team has defied odds before and will look to compete in their third straight PacWest championship game, but will once again need to go through No. 1 seed Azusa Pacific to do so.