After being blanked in the first half, Westmont College’s leading scorer came out with a vengeance Wednesday night, leading the 15th-ranked Warriors to a 72-67 victory over No. 20 Azusa Pacific at Murchison Gym.
Junior guard Jessica Case poured in 19 points on 6-of-9 shooting as Westmont overcame a 34-26 halftime deficit. Amber Stevens tallied 11 of her 12 points in the second half and also had six assists and five rebounds. Forward Alisha Heglund added 11 points while Angel Blanco had seven rebounds for the Warriors.
Westmont (15-3, 7-3) completes the first round of GSAC play in third place, behind No. 2 Vanguard (10-0) and No. 12 Pt. Loma (8-2).
The Warriors shot 50 percent in the second stanza while outscoring the visitors 46-33. Assistant coach Tony Newnan had a simple explanation for the turnaround.
“They played hard in the first half, we played hard in the second half,” said Newnan. “Every play down the stretch, our players were trying to make that play to win the game. Whether it was a defensive stop or attacking the bucket. The players executed the game plan really well.”
Alex Moore-Porter, the third-leading scorer in the GSAC, led the Cougars (14-6, 5-5) with 23 points and 11 rebounds. Michelle Byrd hit 7-8 from the field but was limited to one second-half basket after scoring 13 in the first 20 minutes.
Westmont travels to San Diego Christian on Saturday.
