By Ron Smith
February 28, 2026
 
(SAN DIEGO) Despite a late rally, Westmont Women's Basketball (20-8, 16-6 PacWest) fell to the Sea Lions of Point Loma (21-7, 17-5) on Saturday afternoon in Golden Gymnasium, falling out of a three-way tie for second place. As a result, the Warriors will be the fourth seed in next week's PacWest Tournament and will take on fifth-seeded Dominican (21-7, 15-7) in the quarterfinals at 7:15 p.m. on Thursday.
 
Westmont struggled to score, making just 30.4% (21 of 69) of their shots from the floor and 20.7% (6 of 29) from beyond the arc.
 
In the first quarter, the Warriors fell behind by eight points (17-9) with under a minute and one-half to play when the Sea Lions' Maddie Morrow landed the first of her three triples. However, Westmont rallied with two layups by Noemie Bariteau and one by Jazmyn Shipp to close within four (19-15) at the end of the opening frame.

Defense was the name of the game in the second quarter of play. Westmont did not allow Point Loma a field goal for more than five minutes, while scoring eight points of their own. Shipp started the scoring with a layup before Skyler Knight connected for a trey – the first of four. Then, Navine Mallon converted an and-one layup to put the Warriors up 23-20.
 
Point Loma's Emma Sales scored on a layup to end the Sea Lion draught and make the score 23-22. A free throw by Bariteau extended the lead to 24-22. That, however, would be the last lead for the Warriors. Maddie Mersch dropped in a pair of free throws and Sales scored on a layup to give Point Loma a 26-24 advantage. A free throw by Eiley Tippins was answered by a layup by Mariah Brown with 23 seconds remaining in the quarter. However, a layup by Tippins gave the Sea Lions an 29-26 lead at the half.
 
The third quarter belonged to Point Loma who outscored Westmont 23-11 to take a 52-37 lead headed into the final frame.
 
Two minutes into the fourth quarter, Point Loma took its largest lead (55-39) on a 3-pointer by Morrow.  Over the next seven minutes, however, the Warriors battled back with a 17-5 run to pull within four points. During the run, Knight produced three triples to fuel the Warrior surge. Her final three came with 48 seconds remaining in the game, to make the score 60-56.
 
However, as the final seconds ticked away, the Sea Lions kept the Warriors at bay with a 7-2 run.
 
Knight led the Warriors in scoring with 15 points. Brown added 11 points and four assists and Bariteau contributed 11 points. Lisa Kiefer pulled down 15 rebounds while scoring six points, producing five steals and blocking three shots.
 
The Warriors will travel back to San Diego next week to participate in the PacWest Women's Basketball Championship. Prior to Westmont's game with Dominican, #3 Azusa Pacific (20-8, 17-5) will face off with #6 Concordia (14-13, 12-10) in the other quarterfinal.
 
The winner between Westmont and Dominican will play top-seeded Vanguard (22-5, 18-4) on Friday at 7:15 p.m. in the second of two semifinal matchups. The first semifinal game will feature the Azusa Pacific-Concordia winner against second-seeded Point Loma. The championship game will tip off at 4:30 p.m. the following day.