PLNU LOOKING TO BUILD OFF STRONG FINISH TO LAST SEASON

(SAN DIEGO) After a strong finish to last season, PLNU Women’s Basketball is looking to take another step forward and continue its upward trajectory heading into the 2023-24 campaign.

“I think there’s a tremendous sense of anticipation and excitement with this team,” said Head Coach Charity Elliott, now in her third season at PLNU. “The way we finished last year really strong and put things together, we’re taking those lessons into a new year with some new bodies.

“They’re ready to go. We want to stay very process-oriented and keep it day-to-day, but to say we’re excited is an understatement.”

Elliott has improved the team’s win total from the previous year in each of her two seasons on The Point, including by four conference wins last year when the Sea Lions won eight of their last 10 games.

Point Loma is coming off back-to-back trips to the PacWest semifinals, with the team picked to finish second in the conference this season.

“Any time you come into a program, you make some plans and have a vision for where we want to be and how we’re going to get there,” Elliott said. “Every year, we’ve gotten closer and closer to where we want to be and how we want to compete.

“We’ve had tremendous leaders the last few years, setting the groundwork and laying the foundation. This year with what we believe are the right pieces, we also have that really strong foundation that we’ve worked on from day one.

“It seems like the last few years it’s been one or two little things or pieces that we were missing. In the recruiting process, we’ve worked very diligently to bring in the right pieces.”

Point Loma returns a large majority of last season’s team, that overcame numerous challenges on and off the court, with only two new players who weren’t a part of the program in 2022-23. 

“Last year was probably a year I’ve been most proud of a team,” Elliott said. “It’s hard to find a comparison of the resiliency and the challenges that that group went through and how we were able to really make something really good and special come out of it.

“I honestly think that resiliency and those lessons are going to be our driving force this year.”

With the return of the majority of last season’s roster, along with the seamless integration of two new freshmen, Elliott has been pleased with the team’s starting point ahead of the new season.

“I’m super excited about our core,” Elliott said. “Last year, we had eight new bodies learning, even though a few of them were transfers. This year, we only have two new additions. The way we’ve been able to progress and the speed at which we’re moving is very different from where we were a year ago.

“You look at the way our transfers are making an impact and also our two freshmen, it’s been really cool to see the group morph and become truly one. Everybody I truly believe is going to have a role on this team. Every piece is going to be critical.

“We have depth like I don’t think we have had in the past, which has led to some incredibly competitive practices. Competition raises everybody so it’s been a lot of fun.”

RETURNERS

The team will be led this year by team captains Ellie Turk and Grace Moawad.

“Those two have been so consistent and have set the tone,” Elliott said. “They’ve been the message and the brand of who we want to be. They’ve held that expectation across the board.”

Turk, a junior guard, is the team’s leading returning scorer after averaging 11.3 points per game a season ago, including 21 in the PacWest semifinals against Azusa Pacific.

“I can’t say enough about Ellie,” Elliott said. “She’s stepping into such a huge leadership role. She understands what we’re trying to do. She’s grown so much as a player with her ability to score, but I’ve also been so impressed with her ability to find her teammates and make the best decision.

“Talk about someone who’s bought into the team-first mentality. We’ve talked a lot about how last year to this year, the roles are going to be different in multiple cases and multiple scenarios. For us to be our best, everyone has to be willing to buy into whatever that role may be.

“For some who took 15 shots a game last year, they might only get 10 because we have a lot of different people who can do a lot of different things. She’s bought into that mentality as best as I would want her to.”

The Sea Lions also return post players Maddie Mersch, Annika Thayer and Eiley Tippins, who all played significant minutes last season.

Sophomore Mersch (5.6 ppg, 5.9 rpg) made 22 starts a season ago, while fellow sophomore Tippins (4.4 ppg, 3.6 rpg) started nine of the team’s last 10 games of her freshman campaign. Thayer, a junior, made 15 starts while averaging 4.8 ppg and 4.6 rpg in 2022-23.

In addition to Turk, PLNU’s backcourt will feature fellow returners Moawad (senior), Shayla O’Neil (sophomore), Kate Bobadilla (sophomore) and Allie Cummings (sophomore).

“Across the board, everyone has gotten better,” Elliott said. “Annika has improved, Eiley has improved and is ready to go. Mersch has worked her butt off. Shay has stepped into a new role, leading and being vocal.

“Allie has made tremendous strides. Grace, I’ve talked about her leadership. She’s so steady. Kate is pushing and worked her tail off this summer.

“I think with this team there’s not going to be a lot of difference between our starting group and the subs we bring in. They’re all really competing for minutes. I think they knew going into the summer that they had to work because there’s going to be some great competition.”

TRANSFERS

That competition is only increasing with the return to the court of Point Loma’s three junior transfers – Tavia Rowell, Katie Scott and Alyssa Munn – who all redshirted last season.

Rowell, a Preseason All-PacWest selection, comes to The Point from Hawai’i Pacific, where she was the conference’s Newcomer of the Year in 2021-22 after averaging 17.1 ppg and 6.0 rpg for the Sharks.

Before that, she played two seasons at NCAA Division I Grand Canyon, where she appeared in 48 games and made 27 starts across two seasons.

“Tavia was the Newcomer of the Year in this conference, so she’s not going to surprise anybody,” Elliott said. “She can score and can shoot. She just brings a real competitive fire and wants to win. She isn’t afraid to take big shots and isn’t afraid to do what we need.

“Just that experience factor, she knows what the conference is about and knows what college basketball is about. She’s been everything we thought she would be.”

Scott last played at NCAA Division I Oral Roberts in 2021-22 after transferring from Grand Canyon. At GCU, she was an All-WAC First Team player as well as the conference’s Newcomer of the Year and Freshman of the Year after averaging 16.4 ppg and 5.8 rpg.

Scott and Rowell previously played together at GCU in 2020-21.

“I think Katie’s greatest strength is making everyone else around her better,” Elliott said. “She’s a phenomenal decision maker. When she has the ball, she’s not going to force something and is going to make the right play.

“I think our team really enjoys playing with her because she’s very unselfish and is going to make her teammates shots easier and better, but she can also score. She’s going to be a fun presence on the floor for us.”

Munn, like Rowell, has previous experience in the PacWest Conference, having played at Academy of Art for two seasons. She started in all 25 games she played in, averaging 8.8 ppg, 4.4 rpg and 2.6 assists.

“Alyssa I’ve known since probably junior high,” Elliott said. “She used to come to our camps at LMU. I’ve watched her play a lot. Her motor, her pace and decision-making, she knows who needs the ball and finds the right person.

“She’s really tough and gritty defensively. She’s still kind of getting back into the swing of things after an injury, so she’s not at her best yet but the glimpses we’re seeing are really cool. She’s going to bring a fun, really energetic dynamic to us.”

FRESHMEN

Point Loma’s two freshmen on the team this season are guard Hannah Golan and forward Elle Hanson.

“I’ve been so impressed with our freshmen, with how they came in and the mentality they’ve come in with,” Elliott said. “They’ve been thrust into a situation where we’ve been moving very quickly because we have so many returners but they’ve stayed on top of everything and haven’t been left behind.”

Golan was an 1,000-point scorer at Branson High School, earning Division 4A Player of the Year honors. Hanson was a standout player for a renowned program at Archbishop Mitty High School.

“They are in the mix and are competing,” Elliott said of the two freshmen. “Both of them are strong bodies. They can handle the physicality. They’ve both just come in and it’s been seamless.

“Elle comes from one of the best high school programs in the nation. She understands systems and what that looks like. Hannah is a scorer. She knows how to get to the basket and finish.”

SCHEDULE

After a closely-contested exhibition defeat to University of Arizona on Nov. 1, 44-52, Point Loma officially opens up its 2023-24 season at the PacWest/CCAA Conference Challenge in Pomona. PLNU will take on Cal State San Marcos on Friday at 5 p.m. and Cal Poly Pomona on Saturday at 7 p.m.

The team will then be on the road for the rest of November, traveling to Colorado for games against UCCS (Nov. 16) and Regis (Nov. 18) before returning to California to play Northwest Nazarene (Nov. 24) and Simon Fraser (Nov. 25) in neutral-site contests at Concordia University Irvine.

"I think the trip to Colorado is going to be fun,” Elliott said. “We try to do something special each year and that’s our long-distance trip but every opponent we have to be ready for.

“It gives us a chance to go out there and rely on ourselves only and figure some things out hopefully. When we come back, hopefully we’re better than what we would’ve been at the beginning of the year. That’s the hope, to be road Warriors.”

Point Loma will play its first two home games of the season on Dec. 2 against Hope International and Dec. 6 versus Cal State LA, before opening up PacWest play on Dec. 9 against Concordia in Golden Gym.

“Every single one of them is going to be very important and critical,” Elliott said. “We’ve got the best of the best on our schedule. We’re not shying away from anybody and this conference doesn’t let you shy away from anybody.

“To end up where we want to end up, we have to play high-caliber opponents and that’s what we’re doing.”

PLNU concludes its regular season March 2 at ART U before serving as the predetermined host for the PacWest Championships (March 7-9). The NCAA West Regional is scheduled for March 15-18.

“We haven’t done anything and haven’t won anything yet,” Elliott said. “That’s why we don’t talk about it. We just want to be about it and do the work every day.”

For Point Loma’s entire 2023-24 schedule, click HERE.