By Ron Smith
March 13, 2021
 
(LEWISTON, Idaho) In a historical performance, fourth-ranked and second-seeded Westmont Women's Basketball (11-1) scorched the nets before cutting them down in the NAIA Women's Basketball Opening Round Tournament. The Warriors defeated Montana Western (17-10) by a score of 97-62 to advance to the Round of 16, which will be played in Sioux City, Iowa next week.
 
The Warriors set both an NAIA Tournament record and a program record by draining 21 shots from behind the arc. Senior guard Lauren Tsuneishi made eight of 22 long-distance attempts while junior guard Iyree Jarrett connected on seven of 11. Krissy Miyahara came off the bench to go three of six from 3-pont range while Stefanie Berberabe, Gabriella Stoll and Kirsten Koehnke each added a 3-pointer to the Warriors' totals.
 
"I woke up this morning thinking Lauren Tsuneishi was going to set a tournament record for 3-point shots today," said Westmont head coach Kirsten Moore. "She didn't individually do that, but we did as a team."
 
The previous record for 3-point buckets was 18 both in NAIA National Tournament play and in the Warrior record books.
 
"We knew they were going to press us and zone us." Noted Moore. "Because of the playmakers we have, we knew where to get the looks going today. We had a game plan going in regarding where and how we were going to get our shooters good looks and we executed it.
 
"I think our team is at a point where we know each other well enough that people are doing what they do well, together. There is a cohesiveness to what we are doing. Today, that was our three-point shooting. Some days it is going to be more inside oriented, because I think we also have that dynamic to our game this year. Today, based on our scout, we knew we would have a lot more perimeter looks."
 
Westmont shot at a 47.7% rate from beyond the arc, making 21 of 44. The 63 points scored by the Warriors was one more than the Bulldogs' total.
 
"I think our team showed a real sign of maturity," offered Moore. "This is a team that has been really good for the last two years, but hasn't had an opportunity to play in the postseason since the majority of them were freshmen and we were upset in the first round."
 
The Warriors were announced as last year's number one seed, but the following day, the NAIA Championships were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to today's game, Lauren Tsuneishi was the only player on this year's team to have won a game in national tournament play.
 
"We have had a lot of growth in the last two years," expressed Moore. "It's a sign of maturity that we came out aggressively and attacking. There were a lot of lessons learned in that freshman year that we have grown from. Credit to my players that they put that in action today."
 
The Warriors never trailed in the game. Eight first-quarter threes fueled the Warriors to a 25-17 advantage after the first 10 minutes of play. By halftime, Westmont was up 51-33 and had already sunk 13 shots from long distance.
 
The second half was more of the same with the Warriors winning both the third (24-13) and fourth quarters (22-16).
 
Jarrett led all scorers with 29 points while also dishing off eight assists and producing three steals.
 
"Iyree was a First Team All-American last year and she played like it again today," assessed Moore of her playmaking abilities. "When she is attacking and aggressive like that, we are going to be a hard team to beat.
 
"What made us great, today, is that every single person that started and everyone who came off the bench did their job and did their job very well."
 
Tsuneishi, who reached 1,000 career points scored against Point Loma Nazarene last week, tallied 26 points and five rebounds. Tsuneishi is the 15th Warrior to join Westmont's 1000-point club.
 
Berberabe produced 14 points, making six of seven field goal attempts. She also notched eight assists and seven rebounds.
 
Miyahara contributed 10 points, including a four-point play when she was fouled on a 3-point attempt.
 
The Warriors also controlled the board, outrebounding the Bulldogs 45-29, including 24 rebounds from the offensive glass. Sydney Brown led the Warriors with nine rebounds. She also posted six points and two blocks. Stoll added seven rebound, five points, three blocks, and two steals.
 
The Warriors are waiting for the remainder of the championship bracket to be released, which is expected tonight.
 
"Now we have to regroup and see where this places us in the bracket of 16," said Moore. "This is new for everyone to have multiple sites. It is a little different in that we have more prep for this next game. We will use this time in-between to travel and to come up with another good game plan for whoever we are playing. I look forward to continuing to play with this team because they are really special."