(SAN DIEGO) PLNU Women's Basketball remained unbeaten at home in PacWest play, defeating Fresno Pacific on Monday afternoon, 66-61, inside Golden Gym.
"We knew it was going to be a hard-fought game," Head Coach
Charity Elliott said. "We talked about challenging ourselves to bring our best. I don't know that we brought our best the entire time, but we competed, fought and pulled it out. I'm just really proud of how we battled through some foul trouble."
Ellie Turk, who played just six minutes in the first half after committing three fouls, scored all 17 of her points in the second half to propel the Sea Lions.
"I wanted go in playing as hard as I can no matter what happens," Turk said of her mindset going into the game. "I feel like I did that despite the foul trouble that I got in. I came in the second half like, 'It's okay, nothing I can do about it now. Might as well just go as hard as I was trying to in the beginning.'"
Turk was a major part in helping the offense get out in transition, with PLNU holding an 18-3 advantage in fast break points.
"It was because of our defense," Turk said on what enabled her team's ability to get out on the break. "We were getting defensive stops, so it was leading us to be able to have the opportunity to push it in transition. We were running and people were making good passes."
Point Loma held an even more sizable lead in points in the paint, 40-14, which helped the team overcome a 1-for-10 effort from 3-point range.
Haylee Saurette (15 points, seven rebounds) made a couple of key up-and-under layups in the first half, while
Maddie Mersch (10 points, six rebounds) and
Annika Thayer (six points, six rebounds) also helped the Sea Lions control the low-post.
"We have talked the last few weeks and particularly the last two games of really trying to take advantage of our height with some high-low action," Elliott said. "I think our chemistry has come so far along between guards and posts, and posts and posts, to be able to find each other."
Defensively, the Sea Lions held the Sunbirds to just 25.8% shooting overall.
"They've got some really good shooters," Elliott said. "I thought we did a pretty good job other than losing No. 32 a couple times. We did a much better job in the second half of everybody being aware of where their shooters are."
After an even first quarter that ended at 11-11, PLNU outscored FPU in the second quarter to take a three-point halftime lead.
The Sea Lions then doubled the Sunbirds' scoring output in the third quarter, 18-9, to lead by 12 entering the fourth.
The visitors managed to cut their deficit to as little as two with under a minute remaining, but Saurette hit a pair of free throws to help PLNU hold on for the victory.
The win means Point Loma (6-7 overall, 4-2 PacWest) finishes the 2022 portion of its PacWest schedule on a two-game winning streak. The Sea Lions will play one more time before the end of the calendar year, when they travel to take on Cal State LA on Dec. 30 at 1 p.m.
"It's so nice going into the break winning the weekend," Elliott said.
