Women’s Basketball: Lions swing back, win over Westmont

In a game of counterpunches, the team with more fists in the fight was the last one left standing.

No. 8-ranked Vanguard University kept swinging, got big buckets from a gang of shooters, and rallied for a 67-57 upset of No. 2-ranked Westmont in a Golden State Athletic Conference women’s basketball battle Tuesday at The Pit.

The Lions won their 10th straight game and climbed back into the thick of the GSAC title race by refusing to be counted out.

Vanguard, which was bludgeoned on Dec. 8 in Santa Barbara when the Warriors (17-3, 6-1 in conference) used a 20-1 run at the end of the first half to help claim a comfortable 60-47 triumph, rose time after time following Westmont haymakers in the rematch.

“We had a discussion before the game and at halftime that if they were going to hit us, we were just going to come out and play harder,” said Vanguard senior Samantha Doucette, who made her final six field-goal attempts, including all five after halftime, to lead the winners with 17 points. “We weren’t going to get down and I think we did a really good job of that. We took their hits and absorbed them. We fought back.”

The Lions (14-3, 6-1) were on the canvas early, as the Warriors made their first four field-goal attempts and five of their first six, while the hosts missed their first six shots from the field to allow the visitors to seize a 10-0 lead.

But Vanguard answered with a 19-2 run, before Westmont countered with a 16-3 surge that was halted by a three-pointer from Vanguard junior reserve Hannah Tabron that beat the halftime buzzer and pared the Warriors cushion to 30-25.

Westmont built the lead to 42-30 with 4:47 left in the third quarter, before Doucette, an All-American who was held to two points on four field-goal tries to that point, found her rhythm.

Doucette’s patented mid-range game produced connections from 15 and 16 feet on consecutive possessions to spark a 13-3 Vanguard uprising that pulled the Lions within 45-43 in the final minute of the third period.

A 10-footer in the lane by Doucette gave the Lions a 49-47 advantage with 7:43 left in the game. Doucette’s bank shot near the right block 30 seconds later added to the lead and began a span of just more than six minutes during which five different Lions were responsible for their next six field goals.

Junior Maya Kennedy, who was four for four from three-point range on her way to 15 points, connected from threedom after 6-foot-2 senior center Melissa Norman sank a layin with 5:43 left.

After Westmont answered Kennedy’s final three-pointer with a three of its own to pull within 56-53, junior reserve Claire Lamunu spun inside for a driving layup that put Vanguard up, 58-53, with 3:09 left.

After yet another defensive stop by the hosts, who prompted Westmont to miss nine of its 12 fourth-quarter field-goal tries, Kennedy banked in a 12-footer with 1:50 left to make it a seven-point lead.

After a foul shot by Westmont sophomore forward Lauren McCoy (a game-high 19 points and 15 rebounds), seldom-used Vanguard senior Lindsey Harter connected from threedom to beat the shot-clock buzzer for what amounted to the knockout blow and a 63-54 advantage with 52 ticks left.

Norman, the reigning NAIA Player of the Week who had been on a double-double binge of late, finished with 16 points and eight rebounds for the winners. She was six for 10 from the field.

Kennedy’s flawless night from beyond the arc helped her overcome a team-worst five turnovers, while Lamunu had eight points to lead a Vanguard bench that outscored the Westmont reserves, 18-2.

Sophomore Kandyce Smith had a team-best seven assists to go with five rebounds and two points in 14 minutes off the bench. It was her ability to find Doucette in the third period that initiated Vanguard’s strong offensive execution down the stretch.

Harter had five points, three rebounds, two assists and no turnovers in 14 minutes, while Tabor had a team-best three steals in 16 minutes to help give Coach Russ Davis a contented afterglow.

“We were tough,” Davis said. “That was a game of runs and those were two heavyweights going at it. We didn’t get down, even when we were down by 12. We fought back, kept chipping away at the lead, and earned a huge win.”

Vanguard was six for nine from three-point range (66.7%) and shot the same percentage from the field after halftime (14 for 21) to wind up at 44% for the game. The Lions made their final four three-point tries, including all three after halftime.

The Lions posted a 40-28 rebounding advantage by getting boards from 10 of the 11 players it used.

“I thought everybody contributed and we haven’t had that all season,” Davis said. “We needed that to beat a good team like Westmont.”

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GOLDEN STATE ATHLETIC CONFERENCE

Vanguard 67, Westmont 57

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Westmont 12 18 17 10 – 57

Vanguard 15 10 18 24 – 67

Wmt – McCoy 19, Shellmire 8, Brakken 11, Karr 9, Chan 8, Sato 2.

3-pt. goals – Brakken 2, Chan 2, Karr 2.

Fouled out – Sende, Shellmire.

Technicals – Sende 1.

VU – Doucette 17, Goff 0, Norman 16, Kennedy 15, Hartvich 1, Lamanu 8, Harter 5, Tabron 3, Smith 2.

3-pt. goals – Kennedy 4, Tabron 1, Harter 1.

Fouled out – Goff.

Technicals – Tabron 1.