Women’s Basketball: Lions get it rolling

The months of November and December have provided the Vanguard University women’s basketball team plentiful tidings of comfort and joy the last 10 seasons. So, when the No. 3-ranked Lions missed their first six shots, then were just three for 18 from the field and trailed for the first 11:38 of Thursday’s Golden State Athletic Conference game against William Jessup, there was hardly any cause for alarm.

And, true to form, Coach Russ Davis’ squad got things rolling sufficiently enough to drub the winless Warriors, 89-47, at The Pit.

With the victory, Vanguard is 5-0, 2-0 in conference, and is now 77-10 in November and December over the last decade. Included in that windfall are 24 straight wins in November and December, dating back to the second-to-last December contest in 2011.

The Lions, who struggled at both ends of the floor past the midway point of the first half, erased the visitors’ final lead when junior Samantha Doucette hit a three-pointer with 8:21 left before intermission to create a 16-15 edge.

Vanguard closed the opening half on a 16-4 run, then bolted after the break to score the first 15 points of the second half. Before William Jessup drained a three-pointer with 13:08 left in the game, Vanguard had held the Warriors to just one field goal over a span of 19:30 and without anything other than free throws for just more than 10 minutes.

“I thought [the Warriors (0-10, 0-3)] were more aggressive than us in the first half,” Vanguard Coach Russ Davis said. “But the difference was that we got much more aggressive [in the final 30 minutes].”

In those final 30 minutes, Vanguard outscored the visitors, 77-32, to post its most lopsided win of the season.

And like the early struggles, the Lions’ improvement came at both ends of the floor.

With the Vanguard zone defense pressuring the ball and largely denying penetration, William Jessup managed just seven field goals inside the three-point line in the final 31:50. The Warriors had six two-point buckets in the first nine-plus minutes.

The shift in control also showed up at the foul line, where Vanguard made 28 of 39. The Warriors converted 15 of 27.

Davis said Vanguard’s early lull had a great deal to do with the absence of junior guard Riley Holsinger, who sat the final 13:59 of the opening half after picking up her second foul.

“She makes a lot of things happen for us,” Davis said of Holsinger, who had 17 of her 21 points after intermission and also finished with a team-best 11 rebounds to go with three assists and no turnovers in 22 minutes.

Doucette also had 21 points, while adding nine rebounds to help the Lions dominate the glass, 60-39.

“I thought we did a really good job rebounding,” Davis said. “I challenged them on that and they responded.”

Davis was also pleased with the production of sophomore guard Maya Kennedy, who came off the bench to score 12 of her 19 points in the first half to help the Lions assume control. Kennedy was seven for 11 from the field and chipped in six rebounds.

“[Kennedy] had a good game,” said Davis, who has been relying on Doucette and Holsinger to average a combined 45.3 points per game. “We’ve been needing some other people to step up.”

Lauren Martin, a 5-foot-3 junior point guard, also had six rebounds to go with her game-high nine assists. Martin had six points and three steals, while committing just one turnover.

Vanguard had only eight turnovers, to 25 for the Warriors, who did not have a double-digit scorer and were 15 for 50 from the field (30%), including a mere two for 11 from threedom.

Vanguard posted a 41-5 bulge in points off turnovers and its 28 offensive rebounds helped it earn a 26-8 advantage on second-chance scoring.

The Lions visit No. 20-ranked The Master’s College on Saturday at 5:30 p.m.

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Golden State Athletic Conference

Vanguard 89, William Jessup 47

WJU – Jones 9, Scully 5, Sewell 2, Chavez 9, Rodriguez 2, Curl 7, Chan 3, Huevelhorst 3, Perry 3, Laidlaw 2, Corona 2.

3-pt. goals – Scully 1, Chavez 1.

Fouled out – Sewell, Chan.

Technicals – None.

VU – Doucette 21, Goff 8, Holsinger 21, Duur 6, Martin 4, Kennedy 19, Zugasti 4, Harter 3, Hill 3.

3-pt. goals – Kennedy 2, Doucette 1, Hill 1, Harter 1.

Fouled out – None.

Technicals – None.

Halftime – 35-25, VU.