By Christy Cain

December 31, 2014

(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) Everybody knows that in sports, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. At times you outplay your opponents and win. Other times your opponents outplay you, and you lose. But the hardest reality to accept is that sometimes your team can play an all-around solid, fundamental game and one lucky, last second shot can mess it all up.

That was certainly the case tonight in Murchison Gymnasium as the Westmont Warriors took on the Victoria (B.C) Vikes.

Coming out of halftime with a 32-27 lead, the Warriors seemed to step on the gas to expand the point gap a bit further. Two back-to-back three pointers by Britton Williams and Nate Marsing put the men’s team up by 11 points. Westmont was getting into a much needed rhythm on the court. This was the largest point differential of the game, and sadly would not last too long.

As the final 20 minutes on the clock wound down, so did the point margin between teams. The Vikes were continually working the ball down low to Chris McLaughlin, their 6-10 senior powerhouse in the paint. With McLaughlin going six for six from the field and one for one from the free throw line in the second half, he was a key factor in regaining control of the game.

The Warriors played the Vikes point for point in the final minutes—always keeping themselves within four points of a tie. With 25 seconds remaining, freshman Jerry Karczewski drained a three pointer from the left baseline to make it 61-62. Then a free throw made by Victoria’s Marcus Tibbs gave the Vikes a two point advantage.

With four seconds to go, Britton Williams pulled up in the paint and made a jumper to tie 63-63, while also drawing a foul. After a seemingly endless timeout, Williams stepped up to the line and as everyone in the gym held their breath, he made a nothing but net shot to put the Warriors up 64-63.

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In a key match-up between ranked opponents, #11 Westmont Women’s Basketball (10-3) benefited from 30 points from the bench on its way to a 65-54 victory over #25 Georgetown from Kentucky (10-5).

“I am really proud of how our team responded to not having played well for weeks now,” said Westmont head coach Kirsten Moore. “We have really been struggling and even last night did not play the way we are capable of.”

Yesterday, the Warriors snuck past UC Merced 64-63 on the first day of the Westmont Holiday Classic, but did not feel good about their performance.

“I thought the team played with a lot of grit today,” said Moore. “They played great, purposeful defense and played with purpose all around. That enabled us to beat a very good team in Georgetown.

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By Christy Cain

(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) The Westmont Warriors had quite a comeback in Murchison Gymnasium this evening as they took on Saskatchewan (Canada) in their first game of the 39th annual Tom Byron Classic.

Westmont, who was down 30-40 at halftime, came out with a vengeance in the second to solidify a 72-63 win over their opponents.

“We played really well in the second half. Any time you hold a team who was shooting as well as they were in the first half (51 percent), to less than half of that shooting percentage in the second (23 percent), you are doing something right. They were killing us on the boards in the first, and in the second we out-rebounded them by seven,” reflected head coach John Moore.

While the first 20 minutes of the game were a bit scattered, the Warriors were able to regain their composure and come out with the intensity and focus that is needed to be successful.

“At halftime we talked about leadership. We felt like we needed stronger leadership on the court, and our guys bought into the concept and came out much stronger,” continued Moore.

With more leadership came intentional communication and controlled movements. The Warriors did a fantastic job of taking care of the ball tonight. They finished a grand total of 23 shots made from the field, 19 of which came from assists.

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Eleventh-ranked Westmont Women’s Basketball survived a late run by the Bobcats of UC Merced on Monday night in the second game of the Westmont Holiday Classic.

The Warriors led 64-56 with less than a minute to play when the Bobcats’ Maya Campo made the second of two free throws to cut the lead to 64-57. After a missed jumper on Westmont’s end of the court, Courtney Danna (14 points, 7 rebounds) nailed her first three-pointer of the night with 17 seconds remaining in the game.

Seconds later, Danna drained another three as time expired. UC Merced head coach Kevin Pham implored the referees to call a foul on the shot that would have sent Danna to the charity stripe with a chance to tie the game. However, the officials denied his request and signaled the end of the game.

Westmont was led in scoring by Krissy Karr who drained three long-range shots on her way to 15 points. Karr also dished off five assists. Aysia Shellmire tallied 14 points on eight of 14 shooting from the floor and pulled down four rebounds.

[Georgetown-San Diego Christian box] [Westmont-UC Merced box]

By Christy Cain
(CLAREMONT, Calif.) The Westmont men’s basketball team took the court for the final time before Christmas tonight against Claremont Mudd-Scripps. Unfortunately, the Stags were able to pull away with a 79-64 victory over the Warriors this evening.

“It felt like we had a little bit of the “post finals blues” in the first half, but I really liked the way we played for most of the second half. I thought we competed, I thought we were tough” opened head coach John Moore.

While the Warriors came out strong for the first ten minutes of the game, they seemed to lose their footing a little bit and were never quite able to make up the points that they needed to gain a solid lead or eventually solidify a win. A very consistent Mudd-Scripps team was put the pressure on the Warriors and made them work for every point they got.

Westmont responded well in the second half. They improved from shooting 34.8 percent from the field in the first half, to shooting 61.9 percent in the second half. While Westmont was drew many fouls tonight, they struggled from the free throw line, sinking only 11 of their 22 total free throws this evening. “We didn’t shoot well from the free throw line. We only made 50 percent tonight—we have shot better,” explained Moore.

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Junior Krissy Karr tallied 23 points as #11 Westmont Women’s Basketball (8-3) posted a 67-58 win over the visiting Flames of Bethesda (6-9). Karr dropped in five three-pointers as the Warriors drained 14 buckets from beyond the arc.

“Krissy set the tone from the beginning and had great command on the court,” said Westmont head coach Kirsten Moore, “not just with her scoring, but she also had seven assists, three steals and was getting deflections.”

The Warriors fell behind 9-0 to start the game with the Flames’ Lisette Longomo (21 points, 4 rebounds) accounting for all the early scoring. A quick time out by Moore and a change of defensive strategy got the Warriors back on track. Karr and Celina Gougis (12 points, 3 rebounds) knocked down back-to-back threes to get the Warriors back in the game.

“I was really proud of the girt my team showed,” said Moore. “We have been focusing on being a gritty team when things get tough – and things have been tough. We needed that grit to get a win tonight against a very athletic, very dangerous team. We were able to maintain the lead most of the game, but it was neck and neck. Every basket mattered and every stop mattered and every rebound mattered.”

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Three Westmont players have been named to the 2014 NAIA Women’s Soccer All-America Team and a fourth was listed for honorable mention recognition.

Senior midfielder Tiffany Dimaculangan of Glendora and senior defender Sophie Judd of Edmonds, Washington were the first team selections. Sophomore defender Sophie Fuller of Orinda received third team honors while junior forward Kelsey Steck of Valencia was tabbed as honorable mention.

Dimaculangan tallied six goals and four assists for the Warriors in 2014 while serving as a key component in the Warrior midfield. Dimaculangan scored game-winning goals against Northwest (Wash.), Hope International and Concordia (Calif.).

Judd, who recorded an assist against William Jessup, started all 20 games for the Warriors. Judd started 82 games of the 83 games during her four-year career, helping to anchor a stingy Warrior defense.

By Christy Cain

(POMONA, Calif) Imagine this: Twenty nine seconds left in the game, Warriors are down by one point (66-67) coming out of a timeout. Westmont inbounds the ball and begins to run down the clock.

20 seconds….18 seconds…15 seconds….

With 12 seconds left, Sean Harman feeds Daniel Carlin on the right block. Carlin spins into the middle, up fakes and takes a three foot shot. The gym goes silent and everyone holds their breath as the ball rolls….and rolls….and rolls around the rim.

Drop, finally.

With Westmont up 68-67 and five seconds to go, Pomona-Pitzer inbounds and throws up a long, last second shot.

Airball.

Buzzer sounds.

Warriors rush the court.

It was an exciting ending to a bit of a rocky game as the Warriors defeated the Sagehens 68-67 this evening in Pomona, Calif.

“Tonight’s game was a tale of two halves. In the first half it was evident that we were way off and things weren’t clicking. But I was really, really impressed with the way that our guys played the second half,” opened head coach John Moore.

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