WBK: Warriors finish GSAC on winning note

Westmont Women’s Basketball (19-8, 10-4 GSAC) concluded the 2013-14 Golden State Athletic Conference regular season on Saturday night with a 67-42 victory over Biola (12-18, 7-7). All ten Warrior players scored in the home contest, led by Kelsie Sampson with 18 points and Esther Lee with 15.

Biola scored the first four points on layups by Adijat Adams (16 points, 11 rebounds) and Chelsea Hill (six points, 10 rebounds), but the #11 Warriors responded with an 11-0 run and never trailed again. By halftime, the Warriors were up 31-20.

In the second half, Westmont shot 52.2 percent from the field and scored 11 of the first 13 points to take a 42-22 lead with 13:44 to play. The Warriors led by no less than 17 points the rest of the night.

Celina Gougis tallied seven points, seven rebounds and three assists, while Erin Beadle had an all-around game with six points, four assists, three rebounds and three steals. Aysia Shellmire also scored six points and added three rebounds, three steals and two rebounds.

Before the game began, Sampson and Beadle were honored for their four years of service to the Warriors. Sampson, who has 1,230 career points, ranks seventh on the Warriors all-time scoring list and is seventh this season in the NAIA in scoring at 20.62 points per game. Beadle, the Warriors’ starting point guard, ranks second in the NAIA this season in assist-to-turnover ratio at 3.44.

In other GSAC games, #1 Vanguard (25-0, 14-0) completed an undefeated GSAC season with a 82-59 win over San Diego Christian (11-16, 2-12). Seventh-ranked The Master’s (22-7, 10-4) defeated the visiting #17 Royals of Hope International (20-9, 8-6) by a score of 85-60 and Concordia (12-14, 5-9) wrapped up the GSAC season with a 75-56 win at Arizona Christian (5-23, 0-14).

After tying with The Master’s for second place in the GSAC standings, Westmont will enter next week’s GSAC Tournament as the number three seed and will host Concordia on Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. The Warriors and Cougars squared off earlier this week, with Westmont posting an 80-55 win.

Vanguard is the top-seeded team in the tournament and will host Arizona Christian. The Master’s, seeded number two, will host San Diego Christian. Fourth-seeded Hope International will host Biola.