Kelsey Sampson scored a career high 33 points on Monday night in Murchison Gymnasium to lead eighth-ranked Westmont Women’s Basketball to an 85-71 win over the visiting Argos (8-4) of Great Falls (Mont.).
Sampson made 14 of 27 attempts from the field and drilled five of six shots from the charity stripe. She also pulled down eight rebounds and notched three blocks.
“Kelsey was a beast inside for us tonight,” said Westmont head coach Kirsten Moore. “For a while, she was the only thing we had going on offense. We had to establish the inside game to open up our outside game. We were able to do that with Kelsie’s play in the first half, which opened up our perimeter in the second half.”
After making just two of nine from beyond the arc in the first half, Westmont converted five of eight long-range bombs in the second half. Celina Gougis went three-for-five from downtown on her way to 13 points, six rebounds and three assists.
“Celina hit some big shots and Erin Beadle’s defense was great,” noted Moore. “Karlie Storkson hit some big shots for us but it all started with Kelsie’s play inside – both offensively and defensively.”
Storkson added eight points to the Warriors’ cause while Beadle produced six rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block. Esther Lee added 10 points and Aysia Shellmire tallied six points, six rebounds, two blocks and two steals.
After leading 38-27 at the half, the Warriors never let the Argos get closer than nine points. The Warriors used a strong defensive effort and a 52.8 shooting percent from the floor in the second half to increase its lead to as much as 18 points.
Erin Legel scored 25 points and Mary Wilmore had 24 points to lead Great Falls.
The Warriors will play again Tuesday night when they host the Flying Queens of Wayland Baptist (Texas) in a 5:30 p.m. game.
