The home-court advantage didn’t help the Westmont women’s basketball in the first round of the GSAC Tournament on Wednesday night.
The Warriors shot 30 percent and lost to Vanguard 75-60 at Murchison Gym.
The visiting Lions felt comfortable on the road. They shot 60 percent in the second half and 53 percent for the game.
Molly Pfohl hit 7-of-11 from the floor en route to a game-high 20 points. Sarah Boyd shot 7-12, including two 3-pointers, for 18 points and Chelsea Alfafara added 15 points, 12 coming off 3-pointers. The Lions were 10 of 19 from behind the arc.
“Vanguard played a great game,” acknowledged Westmont head coach Kirsten Moore. “Everyone stepped up for them and hit big shots. It is tough to beat a team when everyone is producing. We’d take one thing away and they would hurt us somewhere else. They definitely deserved a lot of credit for the way that they played.”
Vanessa Farias was the only Westmont player to score in double figures with 13 points. Angel Blanco had nine and 11 rebounds.
The Warriors fell behind from the start, trailing 13-3 after 13:41 in the first half. They got as close as three (24-21) after 3-pointer and a free throw by Elizabeth Evancoe.
But Vanguard went on a 10-2 run, getting treys from Alfafara and Boyd, and led 35-26 at halftime.
The Lions expanded their lead to 14 (44-30) on another three from Alfafara with 16:52 to go in the game.
The closest Westmont would get was seven points before Danielle Arriola canned another three for Vanguard.
“I thought we showed a lot of heart,” said Moore, “especially in the second half with the way that we fought and scrapped and crashed the boards and tried to do everything in our power to get the tide to turn in our favor. But every time we’d cut the lead, they’d hit a big shot coming back.”
Westmont is 20-9 and still holding faith it will receive an at-large berth to the NAIA National Tournament. Vanguard advances to the GSAC semifinals with a 17-10 record.
“We are in a waiting game now to see how the rankings come out and see how many at-large bids are available,” Moore said. “We are planning on playing more basketball and will be practicing and preparing for nationals until we find out one way or the other.”
