(SAN DIEGO) PLNU Women's Basketball punched its postseason ticket on Wednesday night, clinching a spot in the PacWest Championships with a 64-61 overtime victory over Biola.
"I am just really proud of the entire group," Head Coach
Charity Elliott said. "This team knows how to close games out and they did exactly what they needed to do down the stretch. This was a big one for us tonight."
The Sea Lions' desire to make a second-straight PacWest Tournament appearance under Elliott, now in her second year at the helm, was evident in their offensive rebounding.
Point Loma, who is now 3-0 in overtime games this year, outrebounded Biola 16-9 on the offensive glass, resulting in a 19-3 PLNU advantage in second-chance points.
"We talked about 50/50 balls and who wants it more," Elliott said. "We knew it was going to be a battle and come down to the little things, like a dive onto the floor and the extra effort it takes to get an offensive rebound or 50/50 ball. We wanted this game tonight and I think it showed by our effort."
Haylee Saurette's offensive board and putback gave PLNU a two-point lead late in the fourth, only for BU to tie the game and force overtime.
Early in the extra period,
Ellie Turk corralled an offensive rebound and subsequently made a floater to put the Sea Lions up by four.
The visiting Eagles then got back to within one, only for
Allie Carreon to drain a triple with under a minute to play to make it a two-possession game.
PLNU got a defensive stop at the other end before Carreon sank a pair of free throws to all but put the game away.
Turk led Point Loma with 21 points, including 14 in a first half during which the Sea Lions led by as many as 10 in the opening quarter before taking a four-point lead into the half.
Carreon was next with 18 points, shooting a perfect 6-for-6 from the charity stripe. Saurette added 13 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
Point Loma (13-12 overall, 11-6 PacWest), now winners of five-straight and above .500 for the first time this year, holds a 1.5 game lead over Biola (11-3, 9-7) for the fifth seed in the conference standings.
PLNU will look to further cement its postseason positioning on Saturday afternoon when the Sea Lions host second-placed Concordia (16-5, 13-2) at 2 p.m. in Golden Gym.
