Despite five players scoring in double figures, No. 18 Westmont Women’s Basketball (4-1) suffered its first loss of the season on a buzzer beater at Redlands (4-1). The Warriors held a 74-72 advantage with one second to go, but the Bulldogs Allison Wong (23 points) connected for her third three-pointer of the night as the clock expired.
“Redlands played great,” said Westmont Head Coach Kirsten Moore. “They made big plays right down to the end.”
Amber Stevens tallied 16 points, six rebounds and five assists. Jessica Case added 15 points and four assists, Alisha Heglund poured in 14 points and pulled down nine rebounds, Angel Blanco also had 14 points and recorded six rebounds, Elizabeth Evancoe put up 10 points and four rebounds.
The final buzzer was not the only irritating sound in the game. Fifty-three fouls were called by the officials (29 against Westmont, 24 against Redlands), making it difficult for either team to establish any kind of a rhythm.
Westmont struggled early on to find the hoop and did not score until Blanco made a jump shot with 15:14 showing on the clock. It was another four minutes exactly before Evancoe connected from long range to make the score 10-5 in favor of Redlands.
“We put ourselves in a really bad position the way that we played in the first half,” acknowledged Moore. “There are a lot of lessons to be learned from this game. Even after a long day of travel, we have to be able to come out with energy and focus. That happens all the time in the GSAC and we need to find a way to win when we are tired and we feel like things are not going our way.”
For the rest of the half, the Warriors played catch-up, finally taking the lead (26-25) with 2:25 remaining on another jumper by Blanco. Three free throws restored the lead to the Bulldogs until Evancoe struck again from beyond the arc to put Westmont up 29-28. But Redlands outscored the Warriors 6-1 in the final minute and one-half of the opening frame to produce a 34-30 lead at the intermission.
Another jumper by Blanco and two free throws by Katie Kittle tied the game at 34 early in the second half. But once again Redlands surged ahead. The Warriors finally caught the Bulldogs at 59-all with 8:15 remaining in the game on a free throw by Heglund.
After exchanging another set free throws to make the score 61-61, Shada Sadeghi drained a three-pointer for Redlands to put the Bulldogs back on top. But Kittle answered right back with a three of her own that sparked an 11-1 run by the Warriors. Up 72-65 with 2:43 left on the clock, Westmont looked to be in position to win. However, the Bulldogs had something else in mind.
A jumper by Meghan Yetman made the score 72-67 with 2:25 left. After a Warrior turnover, Sadeghi scored on a jumper and was awarded a free throw when Evancoe committed her fifth foul on the play. Sadeghi converted the ‘and-one’ opportunity to make it a two point game (72-20) with 1:33 remaining.
Fifty seconds later, Case made one of two free throw attempts to give the Warriors a 73-30 lead with 43 seconds to go. With 29 seconds left, Westmont’s Larissa Hensley stole the ball from Wong giving the Warriors possession and a three point lead. However, with just seven seconds to play, Wong stole the ball from Case and scored on a layup, cutting the margin to just one points (73-72) with five seconds on the clock.
The Warriors in-bounded the ball and Heglund was fouled with the clock now registering three seconds. Heglund made one of two free throws to make the score 74-72. Redlands in-bounded the ball and called a timeout with 0.4 seconds remaining. After the timeout, the ball was throw in to Wong who caught it, pivoted and put up a shot which banked off the glass and through the hoop to give Redlands the win.
“We made a run and got the lead we needed,” said Moore, “but we didn’t close the game out when we needed to. That is really not like our team. I am confident that we are going to get back to finishing out close games with victories. We are a veteran group and this will just make us hungrier to get better.”
The Warriors will open Golden State Athletic Conference play on Thursday, December 3 with a home game against the Eagles of Concordia beginning at 5:30 p.m.
