Point Loma Nazarene’s women’s basketball team wrapped up sole possession of the PacWest Conference title Thursday evening with a 90-67 victory over Menlo at Golden Gym.
The win was the eighth straight for the Sea Lions, who are 22-5 overall and 17-2 in the PacWest with one game to play in the regular season. PLNU was trailing 12-9 in the first quarter when they went on a 14-0 run to take the lead for good.
Tavia Rowell led PLNU with 17 points as all 10 Sea Lions scored. Eiley Tippins added 16 points and Maddie Mersch (12) and Shayla O’Neil (10) also finished in double figures.
Five San Diego County teams – two men and three women – will be involved in Saturday’s second round of the South Regionals of the California Community College State Basketball Championships.
Southwestern College (20-9) scored a 90-70 victory at Santa Monica late Wednesday night. The 17th-seeded Jaguars will be at No. 1-seeded Fullerton College (26-3) at 6 p.m. Saturday, while sixth-seeded San Diego City College (23-5) will host No. 11 Cerritos (21-8) at 7 p.m.
Pacific Coast Athletic Conference scoring champion Ayden Lockett (University City High) led Southwestern with 27 points, hitting 11-of-17 field goal attempts including going 4-for-7 from three-point range. Lockett also had seven rebounds and six assists.
Devin Dunn (Oceanside High School) scored 15 for the Jaguars, while Jartavious Jackson, Baron Noble and Julian Soares all had 12 points.
Meanwhile, both MiraCosta College (20-9) and Palomar (17-12) were eliminated Wednesday.
Compton, the No. 20 seed, scored a 70-68 upset at No. 13 MiraCosta on a basket with nine seconds to go. Benji Hilstock led MiraCosta with 15 points. Ramel Bethea had nine points, 13 rebounds and eight blocked shots. San Bernardino Valley College routed Palomar 101-66.
No. 13 seed Mesa College (20-19) scored a 63-45 win over Cuesta at home Wednesday to PCAC champion Palomar (22-6) and Grossmont in Saturday’s action.
Christina Bowen (Montgomery High) led the Olympians with 15 points while Kendal Alloway (Eastlake High) scored 14 points with 11 rebounds and Alethze Marquez (Helix High) had 10 points and 13 rebounds.
Sixth-seeded Palomar (22-6) hosts Santa Barbara at 7 p.m. Saturday after having a bye Wednesday. No. 10-seeded Grossmont (23-5) will be at No. 7 Mount San Jacinto at 7 p.m. and Mesa will be at No. 4 Glendale at 7 p.m.
