Sea Lions take both Homecoming games

Sea Lion fans Nahshon Landrum and Caleb Niemetschek show their support for PLNU point guard Josh Sanderson. Sanderson has come up big in clutch situations many times and Saturday night’s win was no exception.

Senior guard Brittney Dove lays up a bucket in Saturday’s 117-84 victory against ONU. Dove had 21 points in the game as the Sea Lions set a school scoring record.

PLNU’s junior Craig Austin battles ONU senior Phil French for the opening tip in Saturday’s Homecoming game. The Sea Lions prevailed 75-72 in overtime. Photos by Amanda Addie

Each of PLNU’s basketball teams came away with big wins Saturday night, one with a record-setting blowout and the other pulling out a nail-biter in overtime.

The No. 9 PLNU women’s team rang up the scoreboard against Olivet Nazarene, winning 117-84. The point total is the highest ever for a PLNU team, breaking the previous record of 109 points against St. Joseph in 2002.

The Sea Lions dominated the court with efficient passing, shooting and rebounding. The team had 51 rebounds on the night, countering the frantic pace, full court press and three-point shooting barrage from the Tigers.

PLNU had eight players reach double-figure points. Kerra Sutton-Wodarski and Brittney Dove led the Sea Lions with 21 points each. Colleen Planeta added 16 points. Liah Ector had 12 points and led the team with eight rebounds.

In the men’s game, Curtis Carlson sparked No. 22 Point Loma Nazarene to a Homecoming victory, scoring 33 points in the Sea Lions’ 75-72 overtime win against No. 18 Olivet Nazarene.

PLNU erased an early deficit to take control in the second half, going up by as many as nine. The Sea Lions led 55-47 with 8:16 to play, but would let ONU back in it in the final five minutes of regulation.
ONU point guard Josh Bronke made one of two free-throws with 18 seconds remaining in regulation, to put the Tigers up 63-61. But PLNU’s Josh Sanderson drove the length of the floor and scored on a layup to send the game into overtime.

Carlson scored on the first possession of overtime, sending the Homecoming crowd into a frenzy and putting the Sea Lions up for good. PLNU built the lead to 71-66 with three minutes left but allowed ONU to get back within one with 23 seconds left.

Free-throw shooting had been a problem for the Sea Lions all night, but when it came to crunch time, Benny Koochoie delivered by hitting both shots to put PLNU up by three. The Sea Lions defense then buckled down and forced an off-balance three, giving the Sea Lions the win.

Bronke led ONU with 24 points and five assists, but turned the ball over seven times in the loss. The Sea Lions applied good pressure defense all night, resulting in 34 Tiger turnovers.

PLNU improves to 4-1 on the year while ONU drops to 1-4. The match-up ended similarly to last year’s meeting in Illinois, which also resulted in a three-point Sea Lion win in overtime.