By Ron Smith
February 16, 2019
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) Westmont Women's Basketball (20-7, 12-4 GSAC), ranked fifteenth in the NAIA, pulled off their biggest victory of the season, taking down #5 The Master's (23-5, 14-2 GSAC) by a score of 49-46.
 
Westmont, who came into the game ranked second in the NAIA in fewest points allowed by opponents at 49.8, held The Master's to 28 points under its scoring average.
 
"We played really tough defense on them last game too, but we didn't finish possessions with the rebounds," said Westmont head coach Kirsten Moore. "Tonight, we were able to put really good defense together with finishing possessions on the boards. On both ends, I thought the rebounding was a big key to the win tonight."
 
The Mustang's came into the game as the GSAC's best rebounding team, outrebounding their opponents by a margin of 13.1 per game. Their advantage is due in large part to 6-6 freshman Stephanie Soares who averages a GSAC leading 12.7 points per game.
 
While Soares got her share of rebounds (12), the Warriors outrebounded the Mustangs 44-29. Most notably, the Warriors gathered in 19 offensive boards while the Mustangs tallied seven.
 
Soares, who also leads the conference in blocks at 4.7 per game, nearly recorded a triple-double consisting of 12 points, 12 rebounds and nine blocks.
 
"It was a really big win," said Moore. "Master's is an excellent team with some really good players. Stefanie Soares is one of, if not the best player in the country already as a freshman. So we had to play really well in order to come away with a win tonight."
 
Lauren Tsuneishi set the tone for the Warriors offensively by scoring 26 points while making eight of 14 three-point attempts. Five of Tsuneishi's threes came in the first quarter, helping the Warriors jump out to a 23-10 lead at the end of the opening period. Tsuneishi tallied 17 first-quarter points.
 
"We had talked about being aggressive from the start," reported Moore. "Lauren has the capability of knocking down shots from deep. She has done that in big games before. I think she is her best when the games are the biggest."
 
Stefanie Berberabe came off the bench to add nine points for the Warriors and haul in six rebounds.

 
"Stephanie's athleticism and scrappiness is a huge asset for us and a big spark for us off the bench," said Moore. "That's especially true in a game like today where she can get into seems and slither through the defense."
 
In the second quarter of play, the Mustangs found their range while holding down the Warriors' offense - outscore Westmont 13-5 in the second frame. Westmont took a 28-23 lead into the locker room.
 
After the intermission, the Warriors lead and extended their advantage to 11 points (34-23) with a three-pointer by Maud Ranger (3 points, 7 rebounds) and another by Tsuneishi. The Master's Jamilee Iddings (8 points) hit a three of her own to cut the deficit to eight (34-26), before Tsuneishi drained another three to return Westmont's advantage to 11 points (37-26) with six and one-half minutes remaining in the penultimate period.
 
The Master's, however, rallied with a 13-0 run to take a 39-27 lead with 1:48 to play in the third quarter. A jumper by Berberabe tied the game at 39 heading into the final 10 minutes of play.
 
Berberabe was sent to the free throw line 20 seconds into the fourth quarter and drained a pair of free throws to put Westmont back on top 41-39. The Warriors did not relinquish the lead again. Iyree Jarrett (6 points, 7 assists) added another point on a free throw with 8:21 remaining in regulation. Then, neither team scored again for over two minutes.
 
With 6:12 showing on the clock, Tsuneishi recorded the first field goal of the final quarter, draining the last of her eight three-pointers and putting the Warriors on top 45-39.
 
A free thrown by the Mustang's Hannah Forrar made the score 45-40 and another by Iddings reduced the Warriors advantage to 45-41 with 4:50 to play. On the Warriors' next possession, Kaitlin Larson feed the ball to Berberabe whose jumper put the Warriors back on top by six (47-41).
 
Over the next minute, The Master's cut the lead in half by connecting on three of four free throw attempts, making the score 47-44 with 3:18 to play. Two minutes later, Soares scored on a jumper in the paint to make it a one-point game with 1:20 to go.
 
However, those would be the last points the Mustangs would score. Westmont would add free throws by Larson and Berberabe to account for the final score. Fittingly, the game would end on an offensive rebound by Sydney Brown (2 points) who led the Warriors with 11 rebounds – six from the offensive glass and five on the defensive end.
 
Westmont shot just 29.6 percent from the floor, but their offensive rebounds provided them with nine more shooting opportunities than the Mustangs (54 to 45) and 12 second-chance points. The Warriors also used their three-point accuracy to outshoot the Mustangs 10-3 from beyond the arc.
 
"It is tough to get any clean look," said Moore. "They are so long and we knew we were not going to shoot as high a percentage as we like, so we knew we had to crash boards and try and get more possessions."
 
With two games remaining in the regular season, Westmont remains in third place in the GSAC standings, two-games behind the league-leading Mustangs and one game behind #21 Arizona Christian (20-8, 13-3) who is in second place. Westmont is one game ahead of #9 Vanguard who is in fourth (20-7, 11-5).
 
Next week the Warriors will wrap up the regular season with a road game at San Diego Christian (7-21, 1-15)  on Thursday and a home game against Hope International (17-9, 7-9) on Saturday.