Vanguard triples up to win

COSTA MESA — For a change, the Vanguard University women’s basketball team had good things happen in threes against Point Loma Nazarene.

The Lions, who lost all three games to their Golden State Athletic Conference rivals last season, before going on to win the program’s first NAIA Division I national championship, had 14 three-pointers, by six different players, to help create a 72-57 home triumph in the conference opener for both schools Tuesday night.

Vanguard (6-1), ranked No. 2 in the NAIA this season, shot better from three-point range (42.4%) than inside the 20-foot, 6-inch arc (37%, converting 10 of 27 attempts), and balanced its 14 three balls evenly between the two halves. The long-range shooting, paced by junior guard Rachel Copeland (five for 12 from distance en route to a team-high 19 points), helped the Lions overcome the No. 8-ranked Sea Lions’ strong inside presence provided by 6-2 junior Colleen Planeta.

Planeta, the first-team all-conference performer last season who came in leading the NAIA in scoring at 30 points per game, netted 10 of 16 field-goal tries, 10 of 14 inside three-point range, to amass 25 points. She added a game-high 10 rebounds, four blocked shots and three assists to virtually carry the visitors (2-1).

And while Vanguard Coach Russ Davis was frustrated by what he termed a lack of intensity from his players, he recognized that there was some determined defense involved in limiting the Sea Lions to 57 points. The defending GSAC regular-season and conference tournament champions scored 31 fewer than they had averaged in their last two contests, both wins, including a 92-73 thumping of No. 14-ranked Westminster of Utah Saturday in San Diego.

Vanguard’s effective defensive mix of man-to-man with its trademark 2-3 zone, helped force 27 Point Loma turnovers.

The Lions, however, had 20 turnovers of their own, giving Davis some ammunition to keep them humble.

“We’d get a turnover, then we’d turn it right back over,” Davis said. “We did some silly things. But we hit some big shots when we needed them, especially down the stretch.”

Davis the Sea Lions were partly responsible for Vanguard’s sloppy play.

“They’re long and quick and they get their hands on a lot of balls,” Davis said. “And these two teams know each other very well. Sometimes that can just make you play ugly.”

Long-range shooting, however, helped the aesthetic for the Lions, who produced 58% of their points and their field goals from threedom.

In addition to Copeland, whose 4.83 three-pointers per game coming in ranked No. 2 in NAIA Division I, junior Jacklyn Blied had three threes, junior Diana Neves and sophomore Sarah Boyd had two apiece and sophomore Kelsey Carlson added one. Boyd made both of her three-point attempts to go with three assists and three steals.

Neves finished with 13 points and four rebounds, while junior Bridgette Reyes came off the bench to contribute five points, five assists and four rebounds.

Other than Copeland, who played 27 minutes, Vanguard had nine players play between 12 and 23 minutes, allowing Davis to show an embarrassment of riches and/or a continuing lineup quandary.

“We’re still trying to search to find something,” Davis said of his liberal substitution pattern, which included three changes in the lineup that started each half.

Davis said it was good to knock off the Sea Lions, who ended Vanguard’s five-year reign as GSAC regular-season champion and snapped a 53-game winning streak in regular-season conference games last season. Point Loma, which swept the Lions in the regular-season and edged them in the conference tournament final, is responsible for Vanguard’s only two losses in its last 67 regular-season conference games.

“Any time you can beat the defending league champion, it’s good,” Davis said. “I want that [title] back. I like the big [national championship] banner, but I want the [conference] back, too. I want them both.”

Golden State Athletic Conference

Vanguard 72, Point Loma Nazarene 57

PLN – Trotter 5, Planeta 25, Ector 7, Zabinsky 6, Franz 2, Hanson 10, Colon 2.

3-pt. goals – Hanson 2.

Fouled out – None.

VU – Sterling 2, Gregory 5, Copeland 19, Neves 13, Boyd 7, Blied 11, Reyes 5, Pfohl 5, Carlson 3, Johnson 2.

3-pt. goals – Copeland 5, Blied 3, Boyd 2, Neves 2, Gregory 1, Carlson 1.

Halftime – VU, 39-27.

BARRY FAULKNER may be reached at (714) 966-4615 or at barry.faulkner@latimes.com.