Behind 25 points and 12 rebounds from freshman forward Lauren McCoy, #15 Westmont Women’s Basketball (23-5, 10-5 GSAC) had little trouble avenging a loss earlier this season to Hope International (16-13, 7-8). The Warriors posted an 83-52 Golden State Athletic Conference win over the Royals on Tuesday and in the process, secured a home game at Murchison Gymnasium for the first round of next week’s GSAC Playoffs.
Aysia Shellmire also posted a double-double for the Warriors notching 13 points and 10 rebounds. Esther Lee added 12 points and Cora Chan put up 11 points, three rebounds and three assists.
In the first five and one-half minutes, Westmont jumped out to an 18-6 lead with Lee recording 10 points and McCoy six during the initial Warrior drive. The Warriors led by as much as 22 points in the first half (40-18) and held a 45-26 advantage at halftime.
The second half saw more of the same with Westmont talking its biggest lead of the night (32 points) on a jumper by Krissy Karr that made the score 72-40 with just under eight minutes to play.
In other GSAC action tonight, #18 The Master’s (20-8, 10-5) defeated Biola (16-13, 8-7) by as score of 73-62 while William Jessup (3-23, 2-13) posted a 65-61 win over the visiting Firestorm of Arizona Christian (6-23, 2-14).
With one game to go in the regular season, Westmont is currently tied with The Master’s for third place in the GSAC standings. Both teams are one game behind #9 Vanguard (19-6, 11-4), which is in second place.
Vanguard will conclude the regular season on Saturday against #6 Concordia (21-4, 14-1), which has already wrapped up the GSAC regular season championship. If Vanguard prevails, the Lions will secure sole possession of second place in the GSAC standings.
If Vanguard losses on Saturday, both Westmont and The Master’s will have an opportunity to tie Vanguard for second place. Westmont will host Biola on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. while The Master’s hosts Hope International. Under any scenario involving a tie with Vanguard, the Lions own the tiebreaker and will, therefore, be the number two seed.
That leaves Westmont and The Master’s to battle for the number three and four seeds. If one team wins on Saturday and the other losses, then the winning team is the number three seed. If both teams finished tied, Westmont holds the tiebreaker by virtue of its 86-75 win at Concordia on January 31.
In the first round of the playoffs on Wednesday, March 4, the number three seed will host the number six seed, which will be Hope International. The number four seed will host the number five seed, which will be Biola.
