Head coach Kirsten Moore and the Westmont Women’s Basketball’s story of tragedy turned to triumph has drawn national recognition. On November 9, Moore will be honored at the Musial Awards in St. Louis as the recipient of the NAIA-National Sportsmanship Foundation “All that’s Right in Sport” Award.
Westmont women’s basketball head coach Kirsten Moore
Produced annually by the St. Louis Sports Commission, the Musial Awards honor extraordinary examples of class and character by athletes and coaches from all levels of athletic competition from youth sports to professional.
Previously known as the National Sportsmanship Awards, the St. Louis Sports Commission announced last November the renaming of the awards to honor St. Louis icon and Cardinals Hall of Famer Stan Musial.
?Stan Musial?s career and life after baseball are defined by excellence, dignity, generosity and class. He represents the ideals and virtues we celebrate with the National Sportsmanship Awards,? said Sports Commission President Frank Viverito in a release.
“This is a huge honor to have our team, our program and our community honored for everything that we have been through and accomplished over the last year,” said Moore. “Westmont is an extraordinary place that understands what is important and right in sport. The team came together and performed at an extremely high level and overcame so much.”
Moore is being honored for her courage and determination to do the right thing following the death of her husband Alex, a member of the Westmont Kinesiology faculty. He passed away on May 9, 2012 – the result of complication to surgery for Crohn’s disease.
When Moore entered her late husband’s office two days later, she discovered two notes he had written, both of which contained a Biblical reference. The first from Isaiah 1:17 read, “Encourage the oppressed, defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.”
The second note, taken from I Chronicles 28:20 read. “Be strong and courageous and do the work, do not be afraid or discouraged for the Lord God, my God, is with you.”
Moore understood these ancient words as her husband’s last words to her.
Seven weeks after Alex’s death, Moore gave birth to the couple’s only child and named her Alexis in honor of her father. Before Alexis turned two months old, Moore met with her team to tell them of her intention to continue coaching.
In retelling the events of that meeting for a story in the Los Angeles Times, Moore reported saying to the team, “I’m here, and this is going to be a hard road, but I’m here. I’m going to be real, you’re going to see me cry a lot, but I have to do this.”
After learning of the Musial award, Moore reflected on how fitting a tribute it was to her late husband. “Alex was a motivation for trying to do things the right way and do the work,” said Moore. “His God was with us this year. It was the fuel that motivated this team and me personally. We kept doing the work this year. Not just surviving, but overcoming so much, and ultimately finding victory.”
With the very tangible support of the team, assistant coaches, the Westmont community and the larger Santa Barbara community, Moore led the Warriors to an 8-1 start of the 2012-13 season. Just after Christmas, however, the Warriors experienced back-to-back losses on their home court to two top-ten teams.
The losses were the type that can destroy a team. Statistically, they were the worst losses in program history. Emotionally, the losses threatened to ruin the confidence of players and coaches alike and threatened to cause the Warriors to give up.
That didn’t happen.
Instead, inspired by the courage and grace displayed by their coach through truly devastating circumstances, the players regrouped, rededicated and redirected themselves into a 17-game winning streak – a streak that included a 14-0 run through the Golden State Athletic Conference (GSAC) schedule, resulting in a repeat championship.
In March, the Warriors experienced another set-back by losing the GSAC tournament championship game to eighth-ranked Vanguard. After losing in the championship game, Moore exhorted her team saying, “Your 17-game winning streak is over. Now all you need is a five-game winning streak and you will be the national champions.”
Those five wins came in a six-day span at the Frankfort (Ky.) Convention Center, which hosted the NAIA National Tournament. After first and second round wins over Cumberlands (Ky.) and Rogers State (Okla.), the Warriors earned a quarterfinal showdown with Westminster (Utah).
In December, the Griffins handed the Warriors a 33-point loss. Redemption came in a tremendous defensive battle by both teams with the Warriors prevailing in the lowest scoring game in tournament history, 39-36.
In the semifinals, Westmont knocked off top-seeded Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) 59-49, handing the Lions just their second loss of the season. The win advanced the Warriors to the championship game in which they defeated Lee (Tenn.) by a score of 71-65.
?I am really happy for my players and the journey we have been through as a group,? said Westmont head coach Kristen Moore following the championship game. ?The perseverance we have shown through trials on and off the court seasoned us for all of the close games we have had throughout the entire tournament.?
While winning the national championship brought her great joy, Moore’s greater sense of satisfaction comes from knowing that both she and her team responded to great adversity with courage and a determination to do the work.
“I am under no disillusionment that we deserved the national championship because of what we did. We could have done everything the right way and not had the result of a national title. We aren?t any better because we won. There was a lot of joy and fulfillment in winning because we had worked so hard and pushed through so much adversity. We have tried to do things with character and work effort and unity and love and togetherness and community and intelligence.
“But those things that don’t necessarily mean we are going to win a championship,” continued Moore. “We were doing them to put ourselves in the best position we could and to do what we felt we were called to do, which is to maximize the talents and opportunities that God has given us. That is our job. To have the result that we did is valued by us, but is less important to us than the way that we did it.”
