Vanguard women roll, 116-20

The Vanguard University women’s basketball team defeated Johnson &

Wales of Denver, Colo., 116-20, Saturday night in the final day of

the two-day Cal Baptist tournament in Riverside.

The Lions (9-1), ranked No. 2 in the NAIA, held Johnson & Wales to

six points in the first half, during which the Wildcats had 29

turnovers.

Sophomores Kelly Schmidt and Rachel Besse tallied 16 and 11

fist-half points, respectively, for the Lions and were beneficiaries

of Lisa Faulkner’s 10 first-half assists. Shooting 48.8% from the

field, Vanguard cruised into intermission with a 51-point lead.

Vanguard sank eight three-point baskets in the second half and

completed the blowout by outscoring the Wildcats, 59-14, in the final 20 minutes.

Besse finished with a career-high 22 points, while Lacey Mills and

Schmidt added 20 points apiece.

Melissa Cook scored 19, Lacey Burns 15 and Lindsey Rinke a

career-high 12. Rinke, a freshman, also had a team-high nine

rebounds.

Faulkner finished with 20 assists as every active Vanguard player

scored.

Johnson & Wales (0-12) finished with 42 turnovers .

Vanguard returns to action Dec. 29 when it opens the two-day

Golden State Athletic Conference Challenge against Bethany College at

Azusa Pacific at 5 p.m.

UCI scholar-athletes

* HONORS: Fifteen UC Irvine student-athletes have been named to

the 2004 Big West Conference All-Academic team for fall sports.

The UC Irvine honorees included five from women’s cross country:

Kim Handel, Jennifer Lewis, Kim Ramirez, Natalie St. Andre and Kelli

Vanderburg; four from women’s soccer: Gina Scachetti, Julie

Scheppele, Tara Weldon and Marissa Welliver; three from women’s

volleyball: Ashlie Hain, Dana Kurzbard and Jennifer Moser; two from

men’s cross country: Matt Grilli and Tim Hearst; and men’s soccer

player Cameron Rossi.

To be eligible for the All-Academic team, student-athletes must

maintain a 3.2 cumulative grade-point average, have attained

sophomore standing academically and competed in at least half of

their team’s contests.

A total of 154 student-athletes from the conference’s 10 schools

received the honor.