SAN DIEGO - In the best game of the day at the NCAA West Regional, the Point Loma women's basketball team was edged 85-79 in overtime by PacWest rivals California Baptist on Friday, Mar. 10.
 
The Sea Lions finish their season at 24-6, with four of their six losses coming against the Lancers. CBU (32-2) extends its winning streak to 29 games with the victory. This was the third meeting between the teams in the last 13 days.
 
"It is a bit of a travesty that this had to be a first round game," said Point Loma head coach Lisa Faulkner. "There was an initial shock of having to play them for the third time in three weeks but after that we felt confident that this was a good matchup for us. It was just a matter of going out and playing our game and playing as hard as we can."
 
Roya Rustamzada had a huge game for the Sea Lions. She scored 21 points and pulled down a career-high 18 rebounds for her 15th double-double of the season. She also had three assists, three blocks and two steals. Alex Brunk added another double-double with 18 points and 10 boards. It was her fifth of the season. PLNU also got 16 points from Kassidy Gengenbacher and 15 from Sydney Tonack.
 
Kamille Diaz led California Baptist with a near triple-double. She had 18 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds. She scored 13 of her 18 points in the second half and overtime. Many of those assists went to Cassidy Milhalko who had a game-high 26 points, to go along with 11 rebounds for the Lancers.
 
PLNU fell behind early and cut it down to two points at the half (35-33). The Sea Lions would score the first two baskets of the second half to take their only lead in regulation. CBU answered with a run and went up as many as eight points early in the fourth quarter before PLNU responded with a 7-1 spurt to cut it down to two. They would not get closer than that until the final play in regulation when again Rustamzada stepped up with a huge play in a crucial moment with time expiring at Alaska Airlines Arena. After a great defensive stand for the Sea Lions, they got the ball back down 70-67 with 14 seconds remaining. Coach Lisa Faulkner drew up a play but after CBU switched the ball found its way into Rustamzada's hands.
 
She dribbled to her right and pulled up behind the 3-point line, and was fouled on the shot, which nearly went in. Rustamzada stepped to the charity stripe and sunk all three clutch free throws. It was reminiscence of her great play against Alaska Anchorage in 2014-15 when she stunned the home crowd with a layup to upset the No. 1 team in the country. This one however, did not end it and instead the game continued in overtime.
 
"We go through special situations all the time, and with the 38 seconds left I knew I wanted to play the game out and it worked in our favor," explained Faulkner. "Roya made a play, got fouled and knocked down three huge free throws to put us into overtime. At that point I really thought we were going to win the game. I thought we had the momentum but they made some big shots in overtime."
 
Point Loma's Sydney Tonack scored the first basket of overtime to give the team just their second lead of the game, but CBU quickly answered behind Diaz. She pulled up and sunk a deep 3-pointer and then assisted a layup, and after a pair of free throws, assisted on a 3-pointer from Milhalko. Diaz had a hand in on all three CBU baskets in overtime. The Lancers were also 9-of-10 from the free throw line in the extra period, after getting to the line just 12 other times in regulation.
 
"These two teams are so evenly matched that it turned out to be the game everyone hoped for and we battled for 45 minutes," Faulkner said. "The way we fought today was incredible. They just made a couple more plays and we came up short."
 
Point Loma was able to take care of the biggest disadvantage it suffered at the PacWest tournament as it was nearly even with CBU on the glass (51-50) after previously losing the battle of the boards by 16 (49-33). However, Point Loma was just not able to get the looks it needed against the Lancers' defense and shot just 32.6 percent from the field. Meanwhile, CBU shot 39.2 percent. Both teams made 29 baskets in the game, but the difference came behind the arc and at the charity stripe. CBU made two more 3-pointers and converted four more free throws.

Point Loma was 23-1 this season when holding opponents to 70 points or less, and 1-5 when it allows 71 or more points.
 
This was the final game in the careers of PLNU seniors Sydney Tonack, Anna Viettry, Riley Abraham, Madison West and Kassidy Gengenbacher. During the past four years this crew went 81-38 (62.8 winning percentage) and made two trips to the NCAA West Regional (not eligible freshman season).
 
"This is a very special group especially for me as a head coach in my first season," said Faulkner. "To have people that totally buy-in and a senior group that fought till the very end. I am so proud and grateful for everyone on the team. The journey we went on this year was fun and no one can take those memories away."
 
Even with the student-athletes the team is losing, the Sea Lions have a very solid core of returners.
 
"We have some great players coming back," Faulkner explained. "Rustamzada and Brunk are both back, and a lot of really good pieces coming back as well as some very good players we are bringing in. For me this was a foundational level team and next year I truly believe that we could win this region and move onto nationals. I wanted to build a culture of winning and of playing together as great teammates. Everyone bought into that and next year we will be ready for tough opponents in games like this.
 
"California Baptist got us in three really close games at the end the season, and sometimes you need those experiences to help you grow," she added. "Next year I fully believe we will win those games."