Point Loma Nazarene Out of Tournament

Point Loma Nazarene pulled within three points but committed two turnovers in the final 17 seconds and fell to 10th-ranked Wayland Baptist, 74-69, in the first round Thursday at the NAIA women’s basketball tournament in Jackson, Tenn.

PLNC (24-8) committed 15 turnovers in the first half and trailed, 37-28. The Crusaders finished with 26 turnovers in their first trip to the nationals.

“We were down by two (with 11 minutes to go) and got it down to two, and we had our chances,” PLNC Coach Bill Olin said. “We just didn’t quite get it done.”

PLNC junior Camille Armijo led all scorers with 27 points and Shannon Abrams added 14.

The Crusaders were hampered by foul trouble. Alicia Harasty, who averaged six points per game this season, had four first-half fouls and finished with zero points in 10 minutes. Shannon Abrams (14 points in 24 minutes) and Christy Stevens (seven points in 30 minutes) had three first-half fouls.

Wayland Baptist had a 56-43 rebounding edge, including 25-12 on the offensive end.

Wayland Baptist (27-6), from Plainview, Tex., is the all-time winningest team in the nation (1,092-244).

San Diego State opens play in its first Western Athletic Conference women’s basketball tournament today against Creighton in Laramie, Wyo. at 2 p.m. PST.

SDSU (14-13, 6-6) finished fourth in the WAC this season and is led by Kieishsha Garnes, the conference player of the year. Garnes, a 6-foot-3 junior center, led the WAC in scoring (22.9) and rebounding (10.5).

Creighton (21-6, 11-1), the WAC champion, defeated SDSU twice this season, 90-76 and 82-76. The Aztecs have lost three in a row. The winner of today’s game plays the winner of today’s game between Utah (18-9, 9-3) and Wyoming (15-12, 7-5) Saturday for an automatic NCAA tournament bid.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Fourth-ranked UC San Diego meets Otterbein College, the nation’s seventh-ranked team, in an NCAA Division III Great Lakes Sectional semifinal game tonight at 5 at Westerville, Ohio. The winner plays the Wartburg (Iowa)-Calvin (Mich.) winner Saturday.

UCSD (23-3) has won 15 consecutive games. A 76-72 victory over Claremont-Mudd on March 2 was its first NCAA playoff victory. It also gave the Tritons an 18-0 record against other Division III schools.

Otterbein (Columbus, Ohio) advanced to the round of 16 with an 88-62 second-round victory over Wittenberg.

The Sectional champion advances to the Final Four, hosted by Wittenberg University (Springfield, Ohio), March 15-16.

WOMEN’S TENNIS

PLNC lost only one game in Nos. 1, 2 and 3 singles, getting victories from Monica Clancy, Kelly Massa and Sue Woodling, to win 8-1 over Biola (3-5) in a nonconference match. PLNC is 6-4.

SOFTBALL

Regis scored four runs in the fourth inning to beat UCSD, 4-2, in a nonconference game at UCSD. Lynn Moreno had two hits and an RBI for the Tritons. Kim Stutzman (1-1) suffered the loss.

BASEBALL

Jay Acocks hit a grand slam and Fred Specks a three-run homer to lead Biola (5-8) to a 9-4 victory over visiting Point Loma Nazarene (9-7) in a nonconference game. Jason Huntley went three for three for PLNC (9-7).

A wild pitch in the bottom of the ninth inning gave San Jose State (7-9) a 5-4 victory over U.S. International (5-13). The Spartans’ winning rally came on an error, a sacrifice, an intentional walk and a wild pitch by Jeff Matranga (2-3), who had struck out the side in relief in the the eighth with two runners on base.

Brent Hansen struck out 12, walked one and allowed nine hits over nine innings but two first-inning runs--one unearned--were his undoing in UC San Diego’s 2-1 loss to Elizabethtown, Pa. (4-1) at the La Verne Invitational. Doran Yount had two hits and an RBI for UCSD (3-9).