Athletic Round Table Luncheon: Westmont Basketball Teams Host Vanguard for Key GSAC Contests

It will be a big Saturday of college basketball at Murchison Gym as the Westmont men’s and women’s teams take on Vanguard in important Golden State Athletic Conference games.

The Westmont men, coming off a heartbreaking 97-91 overtime loss at Menlo last Saturday that dropped them from second place to fifth, face a Vanguard team that is in first place in the GSAC and ranked No. 4 in the NAIA.

The Westmont women, tied for second place behind The Master’s, will be looking to avenge a loss they suffered against the Vanguard (in fourth place) back in late November.

“We played them right after Thanksgiving and most of my team had played only one month of college basketball,” said Westmont coach Kirsten Moore at Monday’s Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table press luncheon at Harry’s Plaza Cafe.

Six of Moore’s top eight players are freshmen.

“Looking back on film, I think we’re drastically improved,” she noted after her 14th-ranked team improved to 17-6 and 10-3 in the GSAC after road wins at William Jessup and No. 16 Menlo last weekend.

Moore said testing her young squad against tough opponents early in the season is starting to pay off.

“It’s all starting to come together now. That testing them early on and seeing what level we needed them to be at at the end of February leading into March, I feel like that vision is coming to fruition now,” she said. “Our freshmen aren’t playing like freshmen anymore, and that’s exciting to see.”

It’s really shown at the defensive end. The Warriors are ranked third in the NAIA in the fewest points allowed (50.7 average).

In their last three games, the Warriors have held teams 20-30 points below their scoring average, Moore said. “And two of those game just came on the road.

“I’m really proud of my team and how hard we’ve worked to get to this point,” she added. “But we got a lot of exciting basketball ahead of us.”

The Westmont women play Vanguard at 5:30 p.m., on Saturday and the men follow at 7:30.

UCSB women’s basketball assistant Nneka Enemkpalii said the coaching staff has “seen a lot of growth with our girls. We’re really young and have had a lot of injuries. We’ve had mini wins here and there to keep us positive and keep us going.”

The Gauchos have a tough week ahead of them, playing host to Cal State Northridge and UC Davis, the first- and second-place teams in the Big West.

Here’s a rundown of what coaches said about the athletes they brought to the press luncheon:

UCSB Women’s Water Polo

Coach Serela Kay on senior captain Shannon Moran: “She has worked her way into being our starting defender and that was not her position when she came in as a freshman. That’s something we needed, and that shows her selfless character and work ethic.”

Kay added that Moran is a candidate for the prestigious Golden Eagle scholar-athlete award at UCSB. “She brings it in the classroom,” the coach said.

San Marcos Softball

Coach Jeff Swann on sophomore Allie Fryklund, who had eight homers and was the team’s No. 2 pitcher as a freshmen. “With our No. 1 pitcher gone, she’ll be carrying the load for us this year. She got a lot of really good experience last year. She’s going to be a big part of our season this year.”

On junior shortstop Savannah Tait, who had seven homers last year: “She’s hit the heck out of the ball the last two seasons. She’s so athletic, she flies all over the field. She’s a third baseman but we have her at short because she’s so athletic and she can cover so much ground. She rarely makes an error.”