Vanguard still perfect at 26-0

COSTA MESA — The Vanguard University women’s basketball team on medium heat was still too hot for Concordia to handle.

The top-ranked Lions never trailed, but felt they only played half as good as they are capable. After building a double-digit lead six minutes in, Vanguard led by less than 10 points at only one point the remainder of the game, but players said better games lie ahead.

Vanguard torched Concordia, 79-55, in the first round of the Golden State Athletic Conference Tournament Wednesday and the best performance for the Lions (26-0) may have came in keeping their composure as the Eagles (12-17) struggled in vain to keep their season alive.

Jessica Richter, the GSAC Player of the Year, scored a game-high 28 points on 10-of-16 shooting to go with eight rebounds. Rachel Besse added 18 points and six rebounds for the Lions, who play host to No. 4-seeded Westmont in the semifinals Friday at 7:30 p.m.

Vanguard has already clinched a spot in the NAIA Tournament.

Westmont is the No. 25-ranked team in NAIA, while Vanguard is No. 1 and has defeated Westmont twice this season by 27-point margins.

“We had our moments,” Richter said. “We could play a lot better. We didn’t have our best shooting game and we didn’t do our best on the boards.”

The Lions shot 37% for the game and were edged in rebounds 59 to 48 overall and 29 to 12 in offensive rebounds. The latter is something Vanguard Coach Russ Davis plans to fix before Friday.

“They had way too many offensive rebounds,” Davis said. “You have to give Concordia credit, they really went after it.”

The game grew increasingly physical in the second half as the Lions’ lead grew to as much as 30 and the Eagles, who were beaten twice this season by Vanguard by 18 and 35-point margins, picked up two technicals and had a player foul out along the way.

“We did a good job of keeping our composure,” said Kelly Schmidt who had 10 points and five rebounds.

Positives for Vanguard were strewn about the blowout victory. In the Lions’ previous game they came out sluggish, trailing for all but the final two minutes of the first half against Hope International.

Wednesday the Lions sped out to an 18-2 lead on three three-pointers from Richter.

“It was good to come out right from the start,” Schmidt said. “We’ve had a couple of slow starts recently. We know it’s not the regular season anymore. It’s almost win or go home. With that mentality they can play completely different.”

The Lions have been dominant, but a defeat adds a little extra motivation in the conference tournament. Vanguard won the regular-season conference title last year, but suffered its first defeat of the season in the semifinals of the conference tournament.

Golden State AthleticFirst RoundConcordia -- Steliga 6, Torres 17, Quan 5, Griffith 4, Anderson 1, Nichols 8, Sahli 6, McDaniel 6, Angeloni 2.

Conference Tournament

Vanguard 79, Concordia 55

3-pt. goals -- Torres 4, Quan 1, Nichols 2.

Fouled out -- Anderson.

Technicals -- Steliga, Team.

Vanguard -- Richter 28, Goold 1, Besse 18, Burns 7, Schmidt 10, Rinke 3, Butler 5, Jacobson 3, Job 4.

3-pt. goals -- Richter 4, Burns 2, Rinke 1.

Fouled out -- None.

Technicals -- None.

Halftime -- 36-19, VU.