Point Loma Nazarene (16-1, 7-1 GSAC), the NAIA’s third-ranked team, handed No. 20 Westmont Women’s Basketball a 67-56 Golden State Athletic Conference loss on Saturday night in San Diego. At halftime, the Warriors and Sea Lions were knotted up at 34-all, but Westmont was held to just 22 second-half points. The Warriors, who have now lost four in a row, are 10-5 overall and 3-4 in GSAC play.
“Our team played with a lot of confidence and did a good job defensively, especially in the first half,” said Westmont Head Coach Kirsten Moore. “But we couldn’t sustain our defensive intensity in the second half and we gave up too many easy layups.”
Senior post-player Alisha Heglund (15 points, 5 rebounds), scored the first five points of the game on a three-pointer and a layup. But the Sea Lions roared back with the next six points to take a brief 6-5 lead. Heglund scored again for the Warriors on a jumper before senior shooting guard Jessica Case connected from beyond the arc to give Westmont a 10-6 lead with 14:32 left in the first half.
After a layup by Point Loma’s Leah Ector (14 points, 14 rebounds), Heglund hit another jumper before a layup by junior forward Angel Blanco (9 points, 5 rebounds) gave the Warriors their largest lead of the game at 14-8. The Sea Lions scored eight of the next ten points to tie the game at 16-all. From that point on, neither team posted more than a three-point advantage in the rest of the half which ended in a 34-34 tie.
Point Loma scored the first six points of the second half, but the Warriors answered right back with a jumper by Huglund and two layups by senior point guard Amber Stevens (12 points, 6 rebounds, 5 steals). Two-time All-American, Colleen Planeta (20 points, 9 rebounds, 7 blocks) put the Sea Lions up by two before a layup by Blanco tied the game at 42 with 15:43 remaining.
It was the last time, however, that the game would be tied. The Sea Lions took the lead on another layup by Planeta and slowly began to pull away from the Warriors. With 3:28 showing on the clock, a Planeta made it a double-digit lead with a layup as the Sea Lions began to put the game away.
“They pressed the whole game,” said Moore, “and we struggled to get into an offense. We did a good job taking care of ball but we struggled to transition from the press to our offense. We also missed too many opportunities created by our defense.”
In other GSAC action, #12 Azusa Pacific upset #4 Vanguard by a score of 101-92. The Master’s picked up an 80-61 win over Hope International and Fresno Pacific defeated San Diego Christian 62-53. Biola earned a 73-52 win over Concordia.
Point Loma (7-1) now enjoys a half-game lead over Azusa Pacific (6-1) in the GSAC standings. At 5-2, Vanguard, The Master’s and Biola are tied for third. Westmont and California Baptist are tied for six with 3-4 records.
Westmont travels to Fresno Pacific (5-12, 2-5 GSAC) on Tuesday for a 5:30 p.m. game.
