Rocklin, Calif. – The Lady Warriors took Horton Court for the second time this week, last taking on No. 1 in the nation, the Vanguard Lions and nearly taking a win from the undefeated squad. The Warriors faced conference foe, Hope International where they had a come-back quarter after halftime to outscore the Royals 29-10 leading to their first conference win of the season, 68-58 advancing to 10-9 overall and 1-3 in GSAC matchups.
“This team really deserved to get into the win column today,” head coach in his second season, Kurt Westendorp said. “We’ve played very well to open GSAC play against the Pre-season top 3 teams in the conference our first three games. Some teams get discouraged with falling short, this team has a lot of toughness and it showed today.”
Neck-and-neck through the first quarter, the Warriors held a 16-12 advantage in the opening 10 minutes of play. It wouldn’t be until the Warriors were up 9-0 that the Royals would hit the board, capped by the day’s leading score Olivia Luu hitting a three from downtown.
The Royals came alive in the second quarter outscoring Jessup 15-8 for the 27-24 advantage into the break.
“I’m really proud of how our team responded coming out of halftime,” Westendorp commented. “We showed a lot of character being able to bounce back from a flat first half.”
But it was a dynamite third quarter on home court for the Warriors where they held the Royals scoreless the first 3 minutes of the half going on a 13-0 run to take a double-digit lead (37-27). In that run, senior Ashlyn Jones scored her first three baskets of the game.
Outscoring the Royals 29-10, the Warriors had a comfortable lead headed into the final quarter, 53-37.Hope would continue to battle the Warriors cutting the lead to under double figures with three minutes remaining, but Jessup defended Horton Court strong going 6-for-8 from the charity stripe down the stretch.
Leading the team overall was O. Luu with 14 points and 7 rebounds, with teammates Lily Hagerty and Jones contributing 13 points each.
