Box Score A double-double from Lauren McCoy helped #5 Westmont Women's Basketball (8-1) overcome a first-half offensive slump to defeat Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (4-2) by a score of 61-53 on Saturday afternoon at Murchison Gymnasium.

"We struggled all game to get any sort of momentum going offensively," said Westmont head coach Kirsten Moore. "We played a good defensive game, particularly in the first half and were able to rely on our defensive presence when things weren't going well offensively."

The game started well enough for the Warriors who opened the contest with a 10-0 run in the first three minutes. Layups by Aysia Shellmire and McCoy and three-pointers by Amy Brakken (5 points) and Kayla Sato established an advantage the Warriors never relinquished.

The rest of the quarter, however, saw the Warriors score just four points to Claremont's seven. The second quarter did go much better offensively for either team. While the Warriors scored just nine points, the Athenas were held to eight.

"It was more than just our shooting," assessed Moore, "We were out of sync offensively. Give credit to Claremont for doing some things that helped take us out of rhythm. Some of it was them and some of it was mental let downs on our part – like not knowing where we were supposed to be on certain sets. That's not typical of our team. But, the fact that we were able to rely on our defense was important."

The offensives of both team had more success in the second half with each squad scoring 38 points. Westmont took its biggest lead of the game (52-34) midway through the fourth quarter when Karr fed the ball to Morgan Haskin for a layup.

Rather than fold, Claremont scored 14 of the next eighteen points go cut the margin to eight (56-48) with 1:48 left to play. However, that was as close as the Athenas would get.

McCoy finished with 15 points, 11 rebounds and four assists for the Warriors. Karr notched 14 points and eight assists while Shellmire collected 10 points and eight rebounds. Kayla Sato added another eight points and eight boards.

Kris Brackman led the way for Claremont with 17 points and six rebounds. Kailee Severt contributed 16 points and three rebounds.

The Warriors open Golden State Athletic Conference play next week with a pair of games. On Tuesday, Westmont will host Vanguard in a men's and women's doubleheader. The women will tip-off at 5:30 and the men at 7:30 p.m.

On Saturday, the Warriors will travel to Fullerton for a mixed twin bill with the Royals of Hope International.