Three guards in double figures led Westmont Men’s Basketball (10-8, 4-6) to a 69-62 win over The Master’s (11-9, 5-5) in Santa Clarita on Tuesday evening as the Warriors won their second straight game on the road. Junior Nasa Sete and senior Josh Ware each scored 13 points with Ware pulling down nine rebounds and tallying three steals. Sophomore Andrew Schmalbach added another 12 points and also had three steals.

The Warriors shot 53.2% from the floor and won the battle of the boards 30-24. They also pilfered the ball on ten occasions. Defensively, Westmont held Ryan Zamroz, the second leader scorer in the Golden State Athletic Conference to a scoreless first half and ten points in the game. Zamroz averages 18.6 per game. Eric Durso, who averages 15.6 points, was held to 12 points. The Mustangs were led in scoring by Jeremy Haggerty with 20 points.

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A streaky Westmont women’s basketball squad fell short in Santa Clarita on Tuesday evening as #10 The Master’s (14-5, 6-4) handed the Warriors (13-5, 5-5) a 68-60 loss. Freshman forward Angel Blanco came off the bench to lead the Warriors in scoring with 12 points. Blanco made six of eight field goal attempts. She also pulled down seven boards.

Junior forward Ali Mooty also had a hot hand off the bench, scoring on four of five attempts from the field and recording 9 points. The All-American needs just four more points to reach the 1000 point mark in her collegiate career.

Sophomore guards Jessica Case and Amber Stevens recorded 11 points with Stevens adding 7 rebounds, 7 steals and 5 assists.

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Tomorrow morning a dream comes true. Westmont senior soccer star Johnny Alcaraz will board an airplane headed to Houston to pursue a long held dream of becoming a professional soccer player.

Drafted by the Houston Dynamo in the first round of the Major League Soccer supplemental draft, Alcaraz was one of two players from the NAIA, both from Golden State Athletic Conference teams, to be taken in this year’s draft. Steven Lenhart of Azusa Pacific was selected by the Columbus Crew in the final round of the super draft the previous week.

“I have always wanted to play professional soccer,” said Alcaraz. “It has finally happened and it is really exciting. I’m extremely blessed and very thankful. The last three years at Westmont, I knew that this could happen but did not know how I would deal with it or what my emotions would be. Now that it has actually happened, I am very thankful, very happy and very excited.”

That old baseball adage has never been more true than when spoken about the 2008 Westmont Warriors. Of the 32 active players on this year’s roster, 18 are brand new to the program. Deck was hired in December of 2006 to guide the Warrior Baseball program – too late to recruit for last season. But he and his staff have worked tirelessly to put together a fine recruiting class this year.

“Across the board we are better,” said head coach Scott Deck, “defensively, on the mound, at the plate. It’s just a matter of putting those things together, staying healthy and playing at a higher level consistently”

“With so many new guys, it has been good to see how everyone has meshed together so quickly,” said senior Anthony Martinez, an infielder and one of four team captains. “It didn’t take very much time at all to feel like one team. We’ve come together as one unit really quick. A lot of credit has to go to the coaches, making sure we are incorporating each other in everything we do, and to the players themselves, making an effort to be sure that it is one cohesive effort.”

Sophomore guard Andrew Schmalbach made four of five attempts from beyond the arc to lead Westmont Men’s Basketball (9-8, 3-6) to an 85-71 at Hope International (1-14, 1-8) on Saturday night. A balanced attack saw seven Warriors scored eight or more points in the up-tempo game in Fullerton.

Freshman center Evan Haines and senior guard Josh Ware each contributed 12 points while junior guard Tyler Dutton added another 10. Westmont used a team approach in rebounds as well, out-rebounding Hope 31-24 with no Warrior tallying more than four.

A seesaw battle in the first fifteen minutes of the opening frame yielded to a Warrior juggernaut in the final five minutes of the half. Westmont produced a 14-1 run which included six points from Haines and five from sophomore guard Matt LeDuc. The result was a 47-31 advantage for the Warriors at the intermission.

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Sophomore shooting guard Jessica Case scored 22 points, tying a career record, to help Westmont Women’s Basketball secure a key Golden State Athletic Conference victory on Saturday night at Hope International (13-8, 4-5). The Warriors entered the contest with a 4-4 conference record and in a three-way tie with Hope and The Master’s for fifth place in the GSAC.

The 62-54 win moves Westmont (13-4) into a three-way tie for fourth place with #10 The Master’s (13-5, 5-4), who defeated San Diego Christian (7-11, 2-7) by a score of 72-36, and #19 California Baptist (11-5, 5-4), who lost to Azusa Pacific 78-71. Westmont will travel to The Master’s on Tuesday for a 5:30 p.m. game and then host California Baptist on Saturday, February 2.

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A break in the rain allowed Westmont Men’s Tennis (1-1) to sneak in their match against California Institute of Technology (0-1) on Saturday afternoon at the Montecito campus. Despite a lack of practice during the week due to the weather, the Warriors romped to a 9-0 victory over the Beavers. The match started under clear skies and breezy conditions with temperatures in the low to mid 60s.

Senior team captain Kyle Godfrey recorded a 6-1. 6-2 win over Vivek Narsimhan at number one singles.

“It was a mixer of excitement and nervousness,” said Godfrey about the match. “You don’t know how you are going to perform because you haven’t been out there in so long. But it was good to be on the court with all the guys and play again. My opponent was a good player. I was struggling to find my game because of the time off and needed to calibrate my shots. After being out there for awhile, it felt good.”

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Westmont women’s basketball used a stifling team defense and prolific offensive output from sophomore guards Amber Stevens and Jessica Case to hand the Eagles of Concordia (8-11, 2-7) a 73-46 loss at Murchison Gymnasium on Thursday evening. Westmont allowed just 18 second half points and forced 26 turnovers, fifty percent of which were steals.

“I am really pleased with our team effort tonight,” said head coach Kirsten McKnight. “We played incredible defense in the second half. That is the kind of defense we have been striving for all year. We had great pressure on the ball and were there on the catch which we knew we needed to be because they’ve got good shooters on their team. We had a goal as a team to not give up any open looks. For the most part we met that goal.”

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