By Ron Smith
November 17, 2018
 
(GREAT FALLS, Mont.) Sydney Brown scored 21 points on nine-of-12 shooting and Maud Ranger nailed five three-pointers for 15 points in #8 Westmont Women's Basketball's 68-56 win over the Skylights of Montana State Northern (3-2). With the win, the Warriors improve to 4-1 on the young season.
 
Brown, who also recorded four rebounds, five assists and a block in the game. She made eight of nine shots from the field in the first half, including one from behind the arc, Ranger scored all 15 of her points in the first half, going five of eight from three-point range.
 
Kaitlin Larson tallied 11 points for the Warriors, all but two in the final quarter. Lauren Tsuneishi went three for seven from downtown to add nine points to the Warrior cause. She also contributed eight assists.
 
Westmont started the game with a 12-2 run. Ranger opened the game with a three before Brown scored the next 16 Warrior points. Ranger provided bookends on Brown's run by draining another three. The result was a 19-14 Westmont lead at the end of the first period.
 
The first 18 Warrior points in the second quarter all came from distance. Ranger contributed the first three, followed by Tsuneishi and Krissy Miyahara. Ranger hit another before Tsuneishi did the same, followed again by Ranger. That gave Westmont a 37-23 lead with 3:06 to play before the intermission.
 
Brown then extended the Warrior advantage to 16 points before Sydney Hovde hit a jumper for the Skylights to made the score 39-25. Hovde led all scorers with 22 points.
 
The Skylights' Lily Hilderbrand cut the lead to 12 with a jumper in the paint before Iyree Jarrett recorded the Warriors' seventh three-pointer of the quarter. Brown would score once more before the midway buzzer, giving Westmont a 44-31 locker room lead.
 
As a team, Westmont made 11 of 27 shots from three-point range (40.7 percent).
 
The second half was more closely contested as the Warriors contended with foul trouble. Brown picked up her fourth foul with 3:41 remaining in the third quarter and sat out the rest of the quarter. She would see just 39 seconds of action in the final frame before picking up her fifth foul.
 
Larson tallied nine points in the fourth quarter to help seal the deal for the Warriors. Larson also fouled out, however, just 46 seconds remained in the contest.
 
Westmont will remain in Montana for one more game, travelling to Helena for a match up with #7 Carroll (2-1) on Monday evening.