By Ron Smith
March 5, 2026
 
(SAN DIEGO) Westmont Women's Basketball (21-8) defeated the Penguins of Dominican (21-8) for the third time this year, though the final score was the closest of any of the prior meetings. Thursday night's 64-61 victory came in the quarterfinal round of the PacWest Championships and advanced the Warriors to the semifinals where they will square off with the top-seeded Lions of Vanguard (22-5).
 
"That game was March basketball," said Westmont's head coach Kirsten Moore. "Every possession felt intense. Both teams played really tough, really well. For us, it was our continual focus of trying to get stops on the defensive end."
 
As is their custom, the Warriors controlled the boards, posting a 49-38 rebounding advantage. Westmont collected 23 offensive rebounds, leading to 20 second chance points. Lisa Kiefer collected 15 of the Warriors' boards – six on the offensive end – demonstrating why she is the PacWest Defensive Player of the Year for the second straight season.
 
Jazmyn Shipp helped control the lane for the Warriors as well, collecting nine rebounds. The sophomore – a second-team All-PacWest selection – was also Westmont's leading scorer with 13 points. Shipp went three for eight from beyond the arc.
 
Skyler Knight tallied 12 points for Westmont and Noemie Bariteau added 10. Knight and Bariteau each made two triples. Molly Garnand, who was named to the All-PacWest third team, contributed another nine points while also pulling down five rebounds.
 
"We had incredible whole-team production," observed Moore. "We have talked all year about how that is one of our strengths and about how deep we are. To see our bench come in and give such incredible minutes and make such important contributions out there was great.
 
"Noemie in the first half got us going and was really focused on attacking. Skyler hit a couple of big threes. Molly started out the game so solid for us and Lisa is so consistent on the boards. Sage Kramer had five offensive rebounds and Bailey Fong had a couple of big buckets. In postseason basketball, you need everyone to step up and own their role and do it well. I thought we did that tonight."
 
The first quarter proved to be a shootout starting with Fong's trey in the first minute of play. After a pair of made free throws by Dominican's Kaylyn Buchanon, Garnand sank another bucket for the Warriors from beyond the arc. Bariteau also showed her 3-point shooting abilities early, going two for two in the first quarter to lead Westmont in scoring with six points in the opening frame. Garnand tallied five in the early going. At the end of first 10 minutes of play, Westmont held a 24-22 advantage.
 
"Dominican is the top-team in scoring offense at 74 points per game," pointed out Moore. "We were able to hold them significantly under their average. The first quarter was a scoring fest both ways. I think our defense was really solid during the next three quarters."
 
The second quarter proved to be a contrast with both teams limited to 12 points. Just 20 seconds in, Aryn Bright landed a pull-up jumper to tie the game at 24. Neither team scored again for more than three minutes. Kiefer finally broke the mutual scoring drought when Kramer fed her the ball and Keifer completed a layup to give Westmont a 26-24 lead. However, Buchanon scored on a fast break to tie the score again.
 
More than two minutes later, Bariteau scored on a layup after two offensive boards by Kramer. Then with 2:43 to play before the intermission, Alvarado drilled a three and gave Dominican its first lead of the game (29-28). One of Knight's triples restored a two-point advantage to the Warriors, but Isobel Crosswhite responded in kind on the Penguins next possession to give Dominican a 32-31 lead.
 
With 45 seconds showing on the clock, Bariteau scored on a fast break, but Buchanon connected on a layup with eight seconds remaining. Shipp quickly inbounded the ball to Mariah Brown who dribbled across the center court line and to the top of the arc before dishing off to Knight in the left corner. Knight caught the pass and fired in nearly one motion, dropping the ball through the net as time expired. As a result, Westmont took a 36-34 lead into the locker room.
 
"They were battling us on the boards and got the better of us in the first half with points scored off of o-boards," acknowledged Moore. "I thought that we toughened up there in the second half. In a one-possession game, every single one of the rebounds matters. I am proud of that."
 
In the third quarter, the Warriors outscored the Penguins 17-13 with Shipp accounting for five points and Garnand four. Shipp recorded another buzzer-beater for the Warriors after Kiefer collected the ball and fed it to Shipp under the basket. Her shot put Westmont up 53-47 headed into the final frame. It was, to that point, the largest lead of the night by either team.
 
The Warriors extended their lead to eight points (59-51) with seven and one-half minutes to play when Shipp connected from outside the arc. Alvardo responded with a triple to make it a five-point game, but a free throw by Kramer and a second-chance layup by Knight restored Westmont's advantage to eight (62-54) with a little over four minutes remaining.
 
After neither team scored for more than two minutes, Keyonee Neal made a couple of free throws to draw the Penguins within six with 1:45 to play. Then on Dominican's next possession Alvarado landed her third trey of the night, making the score 62-59 with 1:11 remaining.
 
After a Warrior turnover, Janiya Sawyer scored on a fast break and Westmont's lead had been reduced to just one (62-61) with 56 seconds left on the clock.
 
The Warriors, fighting a full court press, got the ball down the court before calling a timeout. When play resumed, Westmont ran the game clock to 30 seconds before Knight launched an 18-foot jump shot from the left baseline, dropping the ball through the net and giving Westmont a 64-61 lead.
 
On the Penguin's next possession, Alvarado was called for dribbling the ball out of bounds with 20 seconds to play. The call was reviewed and stood. That gave Westmont possession along with its three point lead.
 
An obvious fouling situation for Dominican was complicated by the fact that the Penguins had only been called for one foul during the fourth quarter. Westmont inbounded the ball by their own bench three times, only to be immediately fouled, reducing the clock to 14.9 seconds. That increased Dominican's foul total to four.
 
On the next inbound play, the ball became loose and a jump ball was called with 12.8 seconds to play. The possession arrow, however, was pointed in the Penguins' favor.
 
"At that point, we are trying to make sure we are not giving up any open looks from three and that we would secure the ball with a rebound on any misses," explained Moore. "I thought we did a really good job contesting without fouling."
 
Dominican brought the ball up the court, but Westmont forced Alvarado to take a long, off-balanced shot. The ball fell short of the hoop as time expired, giving the Warriors their 21st win of the season.
 
As is the case in postseason basketball, time for both celebration and recovery is short. Friday's semifinal game against Vanguard is scheduled for a 7:15 p.m. tip-off.