By Ron Smith
February 6, 2018
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) Lauren McCoy scored 16 points, pulled down seven rebounds and recorded three steels in 16 minutes of play to help #6 Westmont Women's Basketball (16-5) post an 80-39 non-conference win over Saint Katherine (0-28).
 
With her fourth board of the game, which she corralled on the defensive end off a missed free throw in the second quarter, McCoy collected the 1,000th rebound of her career. She is the first Westmont women's basketball player, and just the fourth of either gender, to accomplish the feat.
 
The Warriors fielded nine different players in tonight's game with all of them registering at least 16 minutes of play. All nine recorded a field goal and all nine had at least on one rebound. Seven of the nine recorded at least two assists, led by Lauren Tsuneishi who posted six assists and six points.
 
Adding 13 points to the Warriors' score was Jae Ferrin who also tallied seven rebounds and five assists. Cassidy Tiegs contributed 12 points, five assists and three rebounds off the bench.
 
Morgan Haskin and Maud Ranger scored nine points apiece with Ranger adding four assists and three rebounds. Madison Kast saw 21 minutes of play in tonight's game and provided the Warriors with eight points and seven rebounds.
 
The Warriors were in control from the outset and ended the first quarter with a 24-9 advantage. At halftime, Westmont led 42-17.
 
Westmont returns to Golden State Athletic Conference play on Thursday when they host #23 Arizona Christian (17-5) on Thursday night. The Warriors will be looking to avenge their only loss in conference play. On January 13, Westmont fell to the Firestorm 70-69 in Phoenix. Since that time, Westmont has won six straight. Tip-off is planned for 5:30 p.m.
 
The Warriors currently sit atop the GSAC standings with an 8-1 conference mark. Arizona Christian and #8 Vanguard (16-3) are two games back at 6-3 and tied for second place. Tied for fourth place are #16 Menlo (17-6) and The Master's (15-6) with conference records of 5-4. Hope International (16-8) is in sixth place with a 4-5 record. There are five GSAC games remaining for each team in the regular season.
 
The top six teams will qualify for a the upcoming GSAC Tournament, which takes place March 2-5 at Arizona Christian.