November 17, 2023

WBB Falls in Tight Game, Loses by Three

Video Box Score
By Francisco Claudio
 
The Westcliff women's basketball (1-3) team lost their second game in a row by the same point margin.
 
On Thursday, the Warriors played their second game of a six-game road series as they took on the Hope International University Royals.
 
Westcliff started strong in the first quarter but struggled in the second which hurt them down the line for the 59-56 loss.
 
The Warriors were on fire to start the game as they went on an 8-0 run with threes from Valisa Millhouse and Jalen Long.
 
They controlled the first quarter and took a double-digit lead 20-10 with two minutes left in the first. By the end of the first, they were up 22-15.
 
Millhouse was perfect from the field so far with nine points and had grabbed five rebounds too.
 
Eva Taylor knocked down a three of her own and finished the first with seven points.
 
But the Royals responded in the second quarter with a 9-2 run to even the score 24-24.
 
The Warriors' shooting struggles started to pile up as the team shot 22% from the field and missed all seven of their three-point attempts. 
 
Going into the half-time break, Westcliff led by one point, 30-29.
 
The teams went back and forth in the third quarter and scored the same number of points. So with three quarters played the Warriors were still up by one, 44-43.
 
Westcliff's shooting struggles continued in the fourth quarter as the team didn't score until six minutes had gone by.
 
It was going to be an uphill battle with less than four minutes left in the game and the team down seven points.
 
But with the help from Millhouse and Long who started the game strong, the Warriors began their comeback.
 
Millhouse made a jump shot and Long scored two threes to bring the Warriors within one point, 57-56.
 
But time was not in their favor, and with only 30 seconds left the team wasn't able to get the stops needed as the final whistle blew.
 
For the game, the Warriors shot 33.8% from the field and 27% from the three-point line.
 
Millhouse tallied up a game-high 20 points, with seven rebounds, and two assists.
 
Long scored 16 points and went 4-10 from three.
 
The Warriors had better control of the ball and only turned the ball over nine times which has been a point of emphasis this season.
 
The team will get a day to rest and regroup as they will hit the court again on Saturday.
 
Saturday's game will be against Biola with a start time of 5:30 PM.