By Ron Smith
February 29, 2020
 
(FULLERTON, Calif.) Third-ranked Westmont Women's Basketball (25-3, 17-1 GSAC) sewed up the 2019-20 Golden State Athletic Conference regular season with an 89-55 win over Hope International (19-9, 9-9) this afternoon in Darling Pavilion. With the win, Westmont eliminated any conference opponents from claiming a share of the regular season title.
 
"To win this conference over an 18-game season this year, is as impressive as any year that I have coached," asserted Westmont head coach Kirsten Moore. "The GSAC has three top-six teams in the conference. I am really proud of this team for what it took to win the conference, especially in a year when we had a lot of adversity. It has brought this team together and they are playing incredibly tough – physically and mentally."
 
"I'm proud of how my team stayed focused to finish strong today," said Moore. "We continued to play the way we have lately – playing as a team, playing to our strengths, and being tough and sharp on every possession."
 
Iyree Jarrett poured in 23 points and dished off five assists for the Warriors while Maud Ranger tallied 18 points and 13 rebounds.
 
"Maud had a big double-double today for us," noted Moore. "Iyree had great command on the floor all game long. She scored a lot, but she also found our shooters who were ready to knock down shots."
 
Ranger, who recorded her 10th double-double of the season, is now averaging a double-double of 11.4 points and 10.0 rebounds per game.
 
Jarrett, who leads the team in scoring (14.4 points per game) and assists (5.07 per game) scored in double-digit points for the 20th time this season. She has scored 20 or more on six occasions.
 
Hope International entered the game with the fifth best mark in the NAIA in steals, averaging 14.78 per game. Today, however, the Royals pilfered the pill just four times from the Warriors. Westmont, which is having a historic year as a ballhandling team with an NAIA-best 2.06 assist-to-turnover ratio, committed just four turnovers while notching 17 assists.
 
Westmont converted 16 of 34 long-range attempts today, improving its NAIA best 3-point field goal rate to 12.43 per game. The mark is the best in the NAIA by any team since the 2012-13 season.
 
"We are playing well and peaking at the right time," noted Moore. "Yet we know we have a huge challenge ahead of us in the GSAC Tournament. We are outsized against almost everyone that we play. So, defense and rebounding need to continue to be the focus for us. We know that as we enter into postseason play, those things are going to be even more important."
 
The Warriors earned the right to host the GSAC Tournament at Murchison Gymnasium beginning Thursday, March 6. They also earned a first round bye and will, therefore, play their first game in the tournament in on Friday, March 7 at 3:30 p.m. - a semifinal match-up against the winner between fourth-seeded William Jessup (19-10, 12-6) and fifth-seeded Hope International.