Hot-handed Elizabeth Evancoe and the Westmont women’s basketball team erased a 5-point halftime deficit on Saturday, surging for a 72-62 mastery of The Master’s at Murchison Gym.
Evancoe, a 5-9 sophomore from Irvine, nailed five of her nine attempts from long range — including back-to-back makes early in the second half, en route to 19 points as the Warriors won their sixth straight game.
“Well, I got really good pases from my team and good passes make good shots,” said a humble Evancoe. “But I really felt pretty good shooting today.”
Amber Stevens was scoreless in a dismal first half but was her normal self after the break, finishing with nine points, seven rebounds, five assists and two steals. Ali Mooty and Jessica Case each added 11 points.
“At halftime talked about how we have to really be the aggressors,” said Evancoe. “They did a good job of pressuring us and getting in our face with their trap, and we wanted to do that back to them on defense.”
No. 14 Westmont (20-3, 12-3 GSAC) fell behind by seven at 38-31 after Stacy Nanninga made a lay-up with 18:42 reamining, but the Warriors used jumpers by Alisha Heglund and Angel Blanco as well as a triple by Case to knot it up at 38-38 at the 16-minute mark.
Mooty converted a 3-point play to give Westmont the lead and Evancoe followed with two treys in less than two minutes to make it 47-40 Westmont. The Warriors never looked back.
“In the first half our offensive struggles affected the energy we’re used to having on defense,” said coach Kirsten Moore. “At halftime we committed to playing with that energy in the second half, and we also talked about having more of an attacking mentality.”
The Mustangs are now 12-12 overall and 7-8 in the GSAC. Rival Biola, ranked 20th, pays a visit to Murchison Gym on Tuesday.
