SAN DIEGO-As she's done so many times on her home court,
Cara Liggins delivered a signature double-double performance as the Point Loma Sea Lions (14-13 overall, 9-11 PacWest) downed the Holy Names Hawks (0-25 overall, 0-17 PacWest) 58-49 on Senior Day Saturday afternoon inside Golden Gymnasium.
Point Loma celebrated the final home games for Liggins,
Izzy Turk and
Sydney Peterson with an important win heading into next week's PacWest tournament in Fresno.
All three seniors started, highlighting the long journey's each celebrated as Turk quickly exited but the moment stood as she hugged her fellow seniors before being subbed for by her younger sister.
The Sea Lions raced in front behind
Izzy Turk's sister Ellie who knocked down her first two shots for a 5-0 lead.
After a Holy Names timeout, the Hawks adjusted behind an 8-0 run to take the lead.
But
Cara Liggins responded on Senior Day, racking up nine points to help Point Loma hold a 16-14 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Point Loma widened the lead in the second quarter behind a balanced attack facilitated by a trio of assists from
Alix Henderson.
Annika Thayer, Henderson,
Haylee Saurette and
Madison Corder all had important buckets as Point Loma widened the lead to 33-27 by halftime.
Liggins added five more points in the third quarter and Saurette scored seven to combine for all of the Sea Lions offense in the period. Point Loma's defense buckled down in the period, holding Holy Names to just 3 of 12 from the field growing the lead to 45-36 heading into the fourth.
The game got a big more physical in the fourth quarter and the Sea Lions closed it by going 7-12 at the free-throw line. Peterson, fittingly, ended her home career by knocking down a pair of free-throws before getting a loud applause after being subbed out. The senior holds the school record for free-throw percentage in a season.
Minutes later, Liggins was subbed for to warm reaction.
The Sea Lions did enough to stall the score in the final quarter, defensively locking in down the stretch to preserve the final score.
Liggins finished with 18 points and 11 rebounds for her 8
th double-double of the season. The senior will head to the PacWest tournament 3 rebounds away from the program record for career rebounds.
Saurette also added a double-double posting 15 points and 12 rebounds.
Point Loma will be the 7
th seed when they open the PacWest tournament on Thursday in Fresno and are slated to play the Dominican Penguins at 2:45pm.
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