Point Loma Nazarene University celebrated a double net-cutting ceremony at Golden Gym on Saturday.
Both the Sea Lions’ men’s and women’s basketball teams clinched shares of their regular-season conference titles with wins over Vanguard University, improving their respective conference records to 16-2 and earning byes into the semifinals of next month’s PacWest tournaments.
Guard Zackry Paulsen hit five 3-pointers during a 17-point PLNU run in the first half and finished with 31 points to lead the Sea Lions to an 86-77 victory that boosted their overall record to 23-5.
The women improved to 21-5 overall by riding a hustling defense and a strong all-around game from point guard Kaylee Byon to a 56-51 win.
Paulsen, who was 6 for 9 from beyond the arc while scoring 20 points in the first half, hit four straight free throws after Vanguard had crawled back to within four points at 79-75 with 44.6 seconds left to put the game out of reach.
“Zack is at his best when we need him the most and he came through twice today,” said PLNU coach Justin Downer. “The run in the first half was what he’s about. That’s what makes a good player great. But it’s something we see every day.”
Luke Haupt backed Paulsen with 14 points, five rebounds and five assists. Tyce Paulsen, Zackry’s brother, scored 13.
PLNU hit on 11 3-pointers while shooting 59.6% overall from the field.
“There’s still much to accomplish,” said Downer. “We want to host the (NCAA Division II West Regionals). We want to get better, too. So there’s a lot to still play for.”
In the women’s game, the visitors hit four 3-pointers in the first quarter and jumped out to an 18-15 lead. But the Sea Lions changed their defense, eliminated the open looks on 3’s and took advantage of individual, second-half spurts by Byon, Hannah Golan and Alli McDonald.
After the first quarter, Vanguard was just 3 for 15 from long range.
“We made a great defensive adjustment after the first quarter,” said PLNU coach Charity Elliott. “We knew they were a strong outside shooting team. The shots they took after the first quarter faced a lot of pressure.”
PLNU scored 10 straight points in the third quarter to jump to a 52-40 lead. Byon hit a layin and a free throw with 9:28 to play to put PLNU up 48-38. Golan added 10 points in the second half and McDonald drilled a 3 and added a pair of free throws.
Tavia Rowell led PLNU with 11 points. Eiley Tippins and Golan each scored 10. Byon scored nine points with eight assists and two steals. McDonald finished with nine points and six rebounds.
“Byon has improved so much in the last month,” said Elliott. “She’s become very efficient at running the offense.”
Vanguard’s women fell to 14-4 in PacWest play and 16-8 overall. The men are 11-13 and 5-13.
SDSU wins on the road
San Diego State’s women avenged an earlier home loss to San Jose State by scoring an 82-60 road win over the Spartans on Saturday.
The Aztecs improved to 20-9 overall. They are now tied for the fifth and final bye in the Mountain West Tournament with two regular-season games to play.
Veronica Sheffey led the Aztecs with 17 points. Guards Naomi Panganiban and Kaelyn Hamilton each added 11 points.
