By Ron Smith
November 9, 2018
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) Iyree Jarrett tallied 16 point sand Kaitlin Larson recorded 10 points and seven rebounds as #8 Westmont Women's Basketball (2-0) recorded a 65-43 win over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Friday night in Murchison Gymnasium.
 
The Warriors jumped out to a 13-1 lead with two field goals each by Larson and Stefanie Berberabe (7 points, 6 rebounds), a three-pointer by Jarrett and a layup by Gabriella Stoll (8 points, 8 rebounds). The first quarter ended with the Warriors up 17-6.
 
"I am really pleased with our start tonight," said Westmont head coach Kirsten Moore. "That is something we have been talking about since Tuesday when we did not have a good start. We talked about what it would look like to have a presence from the beginning. With Maud Ranger out of the game tonight (due to injury), we had four freshmen out there and Lauren Tsuneishi, and we attacked right from the start."
 
Westmont extended its lead in the second quarter, by outscoring Claremont 18-6. Sydney Brown (8 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists) scored three times in the frame while Tsuneishi (6 points, 3 assists, 2 steals), Krissy Miyahara (3 points, 2 assists) and Taylor Rarick (7 points, 2 assists) each connected from long distance.
 
"We had contributions from so many different people tonight, which is great," noted Moore. "There were a lot of people stepping up and doing some really good things."
 
The Warriors scored the first five points of the third quarter to go up by 28 points (40-12). However, the Athenas went on a 12-2 run to cut the deficit to 18 points with three minutes remaining on the clock. Westmont responded by scoring the final nine points of the frame. The first six came on free throws. The rest the result of a three-pointer by Jarrett at the buzzer that gave Westmont a 51-24 advantage.
 
In the fourth quarter, Claremont rallied to come within 17 points with 1:48 to play. However, Rarick and Jarrett scored back-to-back threes to make the score 64-41 with just under a minute remaining. Free throws accounted for the rest of the scoring.
 
"Claremont is a really great team," noted Moore. "They had a slower start, but they really came at us in the second half. I thought that was good for us. We were able to stave that off and finish the game strong."
 
Westmont will play one more game at home before beginning a five-game tour of the mountain time zone. Tomorrow, Westmont will host Westcliff at 5:30. Next weekend, the Warriors head to Montana for games against #18 Providence, Montana State Northern and #7 Carroll. After a week off for Thanksgiving, Westmont will travel to Arizona to begin Golden State Athletic Conference play against Arizona Christian and Ottawa.
 
"The more experience we can get right now the better. We are heading on a really tough road trip up to play some of the best teams in the NAIA."
 
Westmont will next play at home on Thursday, December 6 against GSAC newcomer Life Pacific.