By Ron Smith
January 30, 2020
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) Kaitlin Larson poured in 25 points as #4 Westmont Women's Basketball (16-3, 9-1 GSAC) recorded an 83-60 Golden State Athletic Conference win over Arizona Christian (8-12, 3-7) at Murchison Gymnasium.
 
Larson made 11 of 13 from the field, including both of her 3-point attempts.
 
"Kaitlin Larson and Lauren Tsuneishi were on fire in the first half," said Westmont head coach Kirsten Moore. "It was good to see Kaitlin have a great performance inside. That helped open up the outside for our shooters."

As a team, Westmont made 17 three-pointers in the game, which is just one off the Warriors' single game record of 18 set on January of 2019 against Saint Katherine. Tsuneishi made five of 10 from beyond the arc while Maud Ranger, Krissy Miyahara and Taylor Rarick each drained three from long distance.
 
Tsuneishi added four assists to her 15 points. Ranger tallied nine points and seven rebounds.
 
The Warriors outscored the Firestorm in every quarter and trailed for only 17 seconds of the game, early in the first quarter. In the second quarter, despite the Firestorm shooting 72.7 percent from the floor, Westmont managed to outpace Arizona Christian 24-19.
 
"We needed to find ways to get defensive stops," said Moore, "which we did in the third quarter."
 
Westmont scored the first nine points of the third frame to jump out to a 19-point lead (51-32) with 7:49 left before the fourth quarter. The Warriors led by no less than 14 the rest of the way and by no less than 20 in the fourth quarter.
 
With the win, Westmont continues to sit in a tie for first place atop the GSAC standings with #3 The Master's (21-1, 9-1) who defeated Ottawa (Ariz.) (10-8, 3-7) by a score of 92-46.
 
Westmont will host Ottawa on Saturday afternoon at one o'clock.
 
"Ottawa has some of the best shooters in the GSAC, so we are going to need to have a good defensive effort on Saturday," noted Moore.