Women’s Basketball Hopes to Rebound from Rough Start

For the first two seasons under Head Coach Lisa Faulkner, the women’s basketball team accumulated a 43-17 record and was in the thick of PacWest title contention both years. Because of this, one may consider the Sea Lions’ 0-3 start to this season as both uncharacteristic and disappointing. In fact, it is the worst start for a PLNU women’s basketball team since 2000.

But Faulkner wasn’t distraught following a 67-59 loss in the team’s home opener to Simon Fraser.

“That’s probably the most talented team that we’ve played so far this season,” said Faulkner. “Every game on our schedule is tough. We made it that way for a reason. Unfortunately, we’re 0-3, but we continue to get better. Forty-five percent from three for [Simon Fraser] is huge, but a lot of those were off our mistakes. They made us pay. The lesson is we have to make less of those mistakes.”

Sophomore guard Cara Liggins, who has averaged 13 points and 7.3 rebounds per game this season, felt that time and experience would be important in getting the team back on track.

“There’s always that learning curve,” said Liggins. “It’s kind of hard when you have seven underclassmen, though there are three returning starters. I just think that we kind of need to gel a little more and play off of each other.”

The team held a one-point lead at the start of the fourth quarter. In addition to remaining competitive with Simon Fraser, sophomore guard Sydney Peterson felt that there were some optimistic aspects to the team’s performance.

“The shots that we’ve made have been through ball movement and through ball reversal,” said Peterson. “That’s when we play our best.”

The team’s next matchup will be against Sonoma State on Saturday, Nov. 17 at 6 P.M. in the Golden Gymnasium. Faulkner believes that the homecoming crowd could be a factor in pushing the Sea Lions to their first win.

“This one is obviously special for Point Loma,” said Faulkner. “This is our biggest crowd of the year and I wish we would get this crowd all year long. Hopefully it picks up our energy and that translates into a great defensive performance. I expect us to play hard, and hopefully we can get our first win of the season.”