Two days after suffering their first loss, the 16th-ranked Westmont women’s basketball team bounced back with a resounding 83-45 GSAC win over Hope International that started with a 13-0 run. Sophomore forward Angel Blanco had seven points in the opening run and hit 5-6 shots to finish with a game-high 15 points and six rebounds.
Emily Tewksbury added 14 points (on 6-7 shooting) off the bench for the Warriors (8-1, 1-1), who outscored the visitors from Fullerton 43-16 in the second half. Hope (0-5, 0-2), which trailed 40-29 at halftime, made just 16.2 percent from the field in the final 20 minutes (6-37) and 24.6 percent for the game.
“We’ve jumped out to big leads at the start of every game this year,” said Westmont coach Kirsten Moore. “What we really need to work on is extending those leads. We let them get back within five before extending it to 11 at halftime.”
Brittani Philbrook had 14 points and nine rebounds for the Royals, who pulled within 29-24 with 3:14 left in the first half. Westmont responded with a 20-5 spurt that boosted the lead to 49-29 early in the second half.
Katie Kittle scored 12 points and Alisha Heglund collected 11 points and eight boards. Lindsey Chessum had nine points, six assists and four rebounds in 24 minutes.
The Warriors shot 51.7 percent en route to their 20th win in 21 meetings with Hope. They’ll be off for the next three weeks, returning to action on Dec. 30 in Irvine where they hope to complete a perfect 8-0 nonconference record against William Jewell (Mo.) in the Surf City Classic.
