SAN DIEGO---A slew of turnovers early and a rough afternoon from the field turned into a 71-64 loss for the Point Loma Sea Lions (3-2 overall) at the hands of the Northwest Nazarene Nighthawks (3-2 overall) Friday afternoon at the Sea Lions Thanksgiving Classic at Golden Gymnasium.

While the Sea Lions struggled from inside the arc, offensive rebounds and the three-point shot kept them in the game and helped them overcome a nine point deficit in the second half.

"I really think overall, we were decently successful with our defensive intensity." Point Loma Head Coach Charity Elliott said. "Honestly, what's frustrating for all of us is there were a lot of things we could of controlled that we didn't. We missed a lot of layups and a lot of free-throws."

The game's frantic pace in the first five minutes led to thirteen total turnovers but a beautiful setup from Alix Henderson, following a behind the back dribble to beat the press, setup an open three for Allie Carreon to give Point Loma an early 7-5 lead.

Point Loma forced 12 first quarter turnovers, but only converted that into two points, and the period ended with the teams even at 7.

The action slightly quickened in the second quarter as the teams combined for 37 points in the period, with Point Loma hanging in thanks to five second half three's. However, Northwest still held the 27-24 advantage at the half.

Northwest stretched their lead to as much as 9 by pounding the ball into the paint in the third period, but Point Loma closed the quarter strong on an 8-2 run, to trail 45-42 into the fourth.

Liggins helped spark the comeback and contributed to pulling the Sea Lions even at 50 with 4:47 to play. But the Nighthawks scored 11 points to the Sea Lions 5, forcing Point Loma to foul in the last minute.

Despite a couple of late three's from PLNU, Northwest Nazarene wrapped up the game at the free-throw line, finishing the game 22-30 from stripe.

Carreon led the way for Point Loma, hitting on 6-11 three's and delivering a game-high 24 points. Liggins finished right behind her with 22.

Haylee Saurette snagged a game high 14 rebounds as Point Loma had 22 offensive rebounds, but the teams finished even on the glass at 43 each.

Point Loma shot just 31% from the field, but was 36% from three, going 12-33 beyond the arc.

"We took 19 more shots than them but made fewer shots than they did." Elliott said. "The shooting percentage was a big factor tonight. But we're going to learn from it and we're going to figure out what we can control."

The Sea Lions conclude their home-stand, and the Sea Lion Thanksgiving Classic, with a 1:00pm match-up against Simon Fraser University Saturday inside Golden Gymnasium. General Admission is free to the public for the game.