No. 22 Westmont tangled with fourth-ranked Vanguard on Saturday night in Costa Mesa but the women Warriors came out on the short end of the 79-67 score.
After playing Westmont even for the first nine minutes (14-14), Vanguard (18-3 overall, 14-1 in the Golden State Athletic Conference) closed out the first half on a 33-13 tear to claim a 20-point advantage at intermission, 47-27. Westmont (17-6, 9-6) held its ground in the second half, outscoring the Lions, 34-32, but the Warriors were not able to cut the deficit to single digits in the final frame.
Sophomore point guard Amber Stevens poured in 15 points for the Warriors while adding seven assists, five steals and four rebounds. Fellow sophomore Jessica Stevens also scored 15 and tallied three rebounds. Senior Stephanie Anderson and sophomore Alisha Heglund each scored eight points while junior Ali Mooty scored five points and had 10 rebounds.
Vanguard was led by Jessica Richter, who had 23 points and nine rebounds.
In other GSAC action, No. 3 Point Loma Nazarene (20-2, 14-1) beat No. 12 The Master’s (17-7, 9-6), 70-46. No. 25 California Baptist (13-9, 7-8) was upset at Biola (7-18, 4-11), 72-68. Hope International (15-11, 6-8) thumped San Diego Christian (9-16, 3-12), 83-69. Concordia (10-15, 4-11) defeated Fresno Pacific (8-18, 1-15), 59-53.
Point Loma and Vanguard remained tied at the top of the GSAC standings with 14-1 records. The idle No. 9 Azusa Pacific (20-5, 12-3) is two games behind, in third place. Westmont and The Master’s are tied for fourth, while Cal Baptist is sixth.
The Warriors will travel to La Mirada on Tuesday for a 5:30 p.m. game against Biola.
Ron Smith is Westmont College‘s sports information director.