By
Ron Smith
December 1, 2018
(SURPRISE, Ariz.) While putting on an exhibition of three-point shooting, #8 Westmont Women's Basketball (6-2, 2-0 GSAC) handed Ottawa of Arizona (4-3, 0-2) an 82-38 Golden State Athletic Conference loss. In the process, Westmont established a new team record by tallying 17 made three-point field goals.
The previous record of 16 was set on February 17, 2004 in an 83-72 win over The Master's. On that night, Meghan O'Donogue made 10 of 11 three-pointers and Megan Fate sank six of eight.
In contrast, today's record-breaking performance involved six different Warriors contributing to the three-point total. Collectively, the Warrior made 17 of 32 three-point field goal attempts (53.1 percent).
Sophomore guard
Lauren Tsuneishi led the way by making six of eight attempts from beyond the arc in just 22 minutes of play. She added two free throws to lead the Warriors in scoring with 20 points.
"Lauren came out firing on all cylinders," said Westmont head coach
Kirsten Moore. "No matter who we put in, everyone followed suit. We have really great shooters off the bench. They showed that today and shot with a lot of confidence. A lot was working for us today both inside and outside."
Taylor Rarick drained four of seven long-range bombs to tally 12 points and
Krissy Miyahara went three of six from outside to record nine points.
Maud Ranger connected on two of five three-point attempts while
Iyree Jarrett (5 points, 6 assists, 3 steals) and
Stefanie Berberabe (7 points, 3 assists, 4 steals) each added one.
"Stefanie brought us so much energy with her defense," noted Moore. "Iyree led us in assists tonight and helped create some of those shots. We had 13 steals in the game, which was a part of our offensive success. We were really scrappy."
While the guards were putting on a show from the perimeter, the posts were taking care of business under the basket.
Sydney Brown recorded a double-double of 10 points and 11 rebounds.
Kaitlin Larson added seven points, eight rebounds, three assists, a block and a steal.
"You could tell that Ottawa was concerned with being able to guard our posts," said Moore. "They were a lot of times they doubled our posts. I loved how many times we made the extra pass today whether it was from the post kicking out for a three or penetrating, kicking out and giving up a good shot to make an extra pass and get an even better shot. Part of the field goal percentage you see is that we were taking very good shots, open shots, and everyone was ready."
The first quarter saw Westmont take control of the game early. After the Spirit's Jorie Mayfield started the game with a jumper, Westmont scored the next 18 points. A layup by Larson was followed by a three-point bucket by Ranger. Tsuneishi's long-range barrage began with the guard recording a three-pointer on three of the Warriors' next four possessions. Larson and Brown each produced jumpers to complete the run.
With three minutes remaining in the first quarter, Ottawa's Celeste Lira scored on a jumper to make the score 18-4 before Tsuneishi drained her fourth three of the opening frame. Next, Ranger added another three to give the Warriors a 24-4 advantage.
After a pair of free throws by Ottawa's Vanessa Barriga, Jarrett scored Westmont's seventh three-pointer of the quarter to put Westmont on top 27-6. Jarrett finished the quarter with a layup to give the Warriors a 23-point advantage going into the second quarter.
The Warriors went on to outscore the Spirit in each quarter, leading 45-15 at the half and 61-27 at the end of the third quarter.
"It was a great start to conference to go on the road and win two games, especially for how young we are," noted Moore. "It is fun seeing these young players as they grow in experience continue to play better and better. We will need to keep that up next week with two more conference games with Life Pacific and Vanguard.
Westmont hosts Life Pacific (1-7, 0-1) on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. before heading to Costa Mesa on Saturday for a show down with top-ranked Vanguard (6-0, 0-0) on Saturday.
