Bethany George poured in a team-high 12 points as Multnomah fell to NAIA II No. 7 Westmont 86-44 Friday afternoon at home.
WESTMONT 86, MULTNOMAH 44: Lions Conquered by Nationally-Ranked Warriors
PORTLAND, Ore. – Unable to match up with the size and speed of the NAIA Division II's seventh-ranked team, the Westmont College Warriors, the Multnomah University Lions suffered an 86-44 setback to the visitors from Santa Barbara, Calif., in a non-conference women's basketball game Saturday afternoon here at Lytle Gym.
Westmont opened the scoring with a jumper by Morgan Haskin before Multnomah earned its only tie of the game with a driving layup by Valerie Wakefield. The Warriors responded with back-to-back layins by Cassidy Tiegs and Lauren McCoy and never looked back. Westmont took its first double-digit lead at 14-4 on a basket by Maud Ranger, led 21-8 at the end of the first period, and doubled that to 42-16 at the half by again out-scoring the Lions 21-8 in the second quarter as well.
The Lions' offense perked up in the second half, even shooting .545 (6-11) in the fourth quarter, but the Warriors continued to pull away. Their largest lead was 46 points at 83-37 following a layup by Jae Ferrin with 2:48 to play.
--- By the Numbers: Bethany George had 12 points and Marquel Greene, last week's Cascade Collegiate Conference Player of the Week, added 11 for the Lions. Paris Sanders led the team with six rebounds, and Wakefield handed out five assists.
Madison Kast led the Warriors with 19 points, and Tiegs contributed 18 points and eight steals. Ferrin had a game-high 10 rebounds as the Warriors controlled the boards 40-31. Lauren Tsuneishi made eight assists, and the Warriors' big six-footers, Haskin and McCoy, blocked four and three shots respectively. Westmont forced 25 Multnomah turnovers and had 17 steals.
Multnomah fell to 0-3 on the season while Westmont climbed to 2-0.
--- Next: Multnomah heads to Lancaster, Calif., for the Antelope Valley Classic Friday-Saturday, starting with the host University of Antelope Valley first at 7:00 p.m. … Westmont tests its mettle against the NCAA Division I University of Oregon in an exhibition game Sunday at 2:00 p.m.