The NAIA ranked #8 Westmont women’s basketball team lost Saturday to Campbellsville (Ky.), 70-67, in the second of two games played at the Jackson Rotary Classic in Jackson, Tennessee this past weekend.
The Warriors (5-2) came back from an eight-point halftime deficit to take the lead 60-59 with 4:14 remaining in the fourth quarter before the second ranked Tigers closed things out with a 10-7 run.
Westmont endured a poor shooting first half but managed to keep the game close with tough pressure defense that led to 17 Campbellsville turnovers for the game. That effort bought them enough time to shoot 40% from the 3-point line in the third quarter, cutting the Campbellsville lead to five with ten minutes to play.
“We battled a really good Campbellsville team,” said Warriors’ Head Coach Kirsten Moore. “We fought until the final buzzer again today. It was another gutsy performance by our team.”
Sophomore guard Stefanie Berberabe went on a streak to open the fourth quarter that had Moore and her squad feeling like this was continuing the trend of comeback wins by Westmont of late. Berberabe scored a two, a three and an ‘and-one’ in successive possessions to bring Westmont within three points of the Tigers, 57-54, with a tick under eight minutes remaining.
A free throw and a bucket by sophomore post player, Kaitlin Larson, tied the score and then the Warriors finally took the lead off a made 3-pointer by sophomore guard, Iyree Jarrett.
The Tigers wrested control back and went on an 8-0 run to make it 67-60 with just 44 seconds left in the game. Jarrett would add two more baskets and junior Lauren Tsuneishi added a triple to make it a one-possession game, 70-67, with ten seconds left and Tiger ball.
Campbellsville would turn it over with 0:06 on the clock but the Warriors were unable to capitalize in the final seconds.
“We fought until the last possession today and just came up short,” explained Moore. “We’ll grow from this one. That is the takeaway. We will get better because of today’s game.”
Campbellsville moves to 11-0 on the season, while the loss caps a five-game winning streak for Westmont.
The Warriors will return home for the final week of classes before heading out to begin Golden State Athletic Conference play in Arizona, Thursday, December 5 against OUAZ, and Saturday, December 7 versus Arizona Christian.