It was a disappointing night for #15 Westmont Women’s Basketball (24-6) who lost to Hope International (16-15) by a score of 72-67 in the first round of the Golden State Athletic Conference Tournament on Wednesday night in Murchison Gymnasium. The loss came despite 25 points from junior guard Krissy Karr who made seven buckets from beyond the arc.
“Credit Hope tonight,” said Westmont head coach Kirsten Moore. “They had a great game plan, they stepped up and executed and they played a great basketball game.
“I am definitely disappointed in my team’s effort and especially focus on the little things. My hope now is that this fuels us to be a better team in the next two weeks – that we are able to get tougher in the areas we need to get tougher and that we bring a very different presence to the national tournament.
“I believe our body of work has put us in a position where we can have a chance to play again and we can take advantage of that and be a better team than we were tonight.”
The Warriors played catch-up most of the night but ran out of clock before gaining the upper hand. The key statistic in the game was rebounding with Hope International holding a 47-27 advantage. The extra possessions translated into 11 additional shot attempts by the Royals (67-56) and six more baskets made (30-24).
Emily Terwilliger led the Royals with 19 points, 11 rebounds and four assists. Alexis Perry added 15 points and six rebounds. Krystyn Jacobs notched 14 points, six rebounds and six assists.
For the Warriors, Aysia Shellmire and Lauren McCoy each scored 11 points with McCoy tallying six rebounds and Shellmire five. Both, however, were hampered with foul trouble and were forced to log minutes on the bench.
In the first half, the Warriors shot 51.7 percent (15 of 29) and took a 38-35 lead into the locker room at the intermission. However, offensive production fell off in the second half with Westmont making just 33.3 percent of their attempts (9 of 27).
At 12:52 remaining in the game, Karr drained her seventh three-pointer of the night to make the score 50-50. Over the next four and one-half minutes, however, Hope International produced a 10-2 lead to take command of the game.
Twice, Westmont was able to reduce the deficit to four, but that was as close as the Warriors would get.
The Royals advance to the semifinals on Friday when they will play at second-seeded Vanguard. The Master’s will travel to Concordia for the other semifinal match-up.
Westmont will have to sit out the rest of the GSAC Tournament and wait for the NAIA National Championship field to be announced on Wednesday, March 11. The national tournament begins on Wednesday, March 18 in Independence, Missouri.
