Lions celebrate title

Rick Devereux

What would motivate the Vanguard University women’s basketball team

in its Golden State Athletic Conference tournament final against

Point Loma Nazarene Tuesday at Hope International?

The Lions had won the regular season conference title for the

third straight season and solidified a No. 1 seed in the upcoming

NAIA tournament in Jackson, Tenn. Starting March 16.

What would motivate Vanguard?

Revenge.

“They beat us the last time we played,” Coach Russ Davis said.

“The girls really wanted to play them again and it worked out that we

did.”

The thought of payback worked as the Lions ran away with 72-55

victory for their second straight conference tournament title.

The teams split the regular-season meetings, with the Sea Lions

earning a 69-64 win on Feb. 8 in San Diego. Vanguard registered a

74-53 victory against the Sea Lions Jan. 6 in Costa Mesa.

“[Point Loma Coach Bill] Westphal is a class act,” Davis said. “He

told me after the game that the better team won tonight.”

The Lions opened up the game with back-to-back three-pointers by

sophomore forward Kelly Schmidt and senior point guard Lisa Faulkner,

followed by a third long-ball from senior guard Lacey Mills to jump

to an 11-4 lead.

Point Loma, the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament, clawed

back and eventually took a 27-21 lead.

Vanguard (30-3) regained their shooting touch from the outside and

took a 28-25 lead on a Faulkner three with less than two minutes left

in the first half. The Lions would never relinquish the lead after

that.

“We average eight threes per game,” Davis said. “I’m not surprised

[with our outside shooting].”

The Lions advanced into the finals by utilizing a powerful inside

presence in the semifinals against Azusa Pacific, but it was the long

ball that carried them in the finals.

Vanguard was 9 of 22 (40.9%) from behind the arc while the Sea

Lions were 3 of 18 for 16.7%.

Faulkner was 5 of 9 from three-point land and finished with 17

points while Mills was 3 of 9 for nine points. The first basket of

the game was Schmidt’s lone three point attempt as she finished with

a game-high 22 points.

But Schmidt was able to make three-points the hard way.

Midway through the second half, the Lions started to put the game

away because of three straight three-pointers by Faulkner and Mills.

Schmidt broke the streak of long balls when she made driving lay up,

but kept the three-point mantra going when she was fouled on the shot

and converted her free throw.

That Schmidt was playing at all was cause for celebration for

Vanguard. The Lions suffered news that forward Melissa Cook, who was

averaging 10.4 points per game, will be out for the remainder of the

season after a knee injury Thursday in the quarterfinals of the

conference tournament. It looked as if Schmidt might join her on the

sidelines after getting elbowed in the nose Saturday in the

semifinals.

Golden State Athletic Conference

Tournament final

Vanguard 72,

Point Loma 55

Point Loma -- Jenkins 8, Dehoog 14, Carl 4, Sousa 2, Mercado 13,

Hilbelink 0, Dotson 0, Dove 9, Honer 5, Ulmer 0, Manjarrez 0.

3-pt. goals -- Mercado 2, Honer 1.

Fouled out -- Jenkins.

Vanguard -- Burns 7, Schmidt 22, Besse 10, Mills 9, Faulkner 17,

Dittenbir 1, Rinke 2, Jacobson 4.

3-pt. goals -- Faulkner 5, Mills 3, Schmidt 1.

Halftime -- Vanguard, 33-28.