Esther Lee drained seven three-point field goals, including five of seven in the second half, to lead the Westmont’s women’s basketball team to a 59-48 win over Montana Tech in the final game of the Westminster Fall Classic in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Lee finished with 27 points and went six for six from the free throw line, all in the second half.
Kelsie Sampson added another 16 points and pulled down five rebounds. Sampson also was six for six from the charity stripe. As a team, Westmont (2-1) shot 90.5 percent from the free throw line, making 19 of 21.
The game remained close throughout the first half with neither team claiming more than a five point advantage. Montana Tech took a 25-22 advantage into the locker room.
With 11:30 minutes to play in the second half, Montana Tech’s Kelsey Dewit struck from beyond the arc, making it a 36-35 Westmont lead. It would be nearly eight and one-half minutes before the Diggers would score from the field again. In the meantime, Westmont would put together a 17-3 run and go up 53-48 with 3:14 left in regulation.
While both teams committed 19 turnovers and both produced 12 steals, the Warriors took greater advantage of those opportunities. Westmont scored 26 points off of turnovers while Montana Tech managed just 11. The Warriors also capitalized on their rebounding advantage (35-30), producing 11 second chance points to Montana Tech’s 4.
The win came on the heels of an 84-53 loss on Thursday to No. 5 Westminster.
