Lions pull away from Westminster

Barry Faulkner

Russ Davis isn’t coaching the calendar, nor the scoreboard, nor to

win favor with his players. Even at this early stage of the women’s

basketball season, the Vanguard University head man is driving his

team with his determination to obtain a singular, lofty objective.

“We want to win the national championship,” Davis said immediately

following the Lions’ 83-54 nonconference win over visiting

Westminster of Utah, Thursday at the Pit.

The voluntary admission came after an inquiry about him calling a

timeout to make a heated point to his players with 1:19 left in the runaway victory.

“We’ve got to learn how to finish strong,” said Davis, whose team,

ranked No. 4 in the NAIA after reaching the Final Four last season,

improved to 3-0. “We get a lead and we seem to get lackadaisical.”

There figure to be many leads this season for the Lions, who have

a pair of first-year performers already heralding their candidacy for

All-American honors.

Kelly Schmidt, a 6-foot freshman from Arizona, continued her

strong start with a game-high 21 points. She added nine rebounds and

connected on 11 of 12 foul shots, despite missing seven minutes of

the opening half due to foul trouble and sitting briefly after

picking up her fourth foul with 14:07 left in the game.

Junior point guard Lisa Faulkner, a transfer from UC Irvine, held

up her end of the marquee pairing, collecting 18 points, eight assists and five steals.

Faulkner made both of her three-pointers after halftime to help

the Lions net 7 of 9 from beyond the arc in the final 20 minutes.

Vanguard was 1 of 7 on three-point tries before the break.

Sophomore Cecilia Josefsson had all three of her three-pointers

after halftime and junior guard Lacey Mills connected twice from

threedom in the second half, including one to trigger a Vanguard run

just 13 seconds after intermission.

Vanguard used a 10-0 spurt early in the opening half to take

command, but, with Schmidt on the bench, Westminster (3-4), which

Davis expects to crack the NAIA top 25 when the next poll is

released, rallied.

The Griffins, based in Salt Lake City, closed to within 28-25 with

2:11 left in the half, but were quickly overwhelmed.

Vanguard used runs of 9-1, 9-0, 8-2 and 9-2 to keep its victory

margin this season at a healthy 32.7 points.

Vanguard’s hot perimeter shooting helped it finish 50% from the

field, while its pressure defense helped force 23 Westminster

turnovers.

Vanguard unleashed a full-court press to start the second half,

which increased the tempo and produced more open looks.

The Lions now have 12 days to prepare for their Golden State

Athletic Conference opener Dec. 2 at Biola.

Rebekah Steenblik led Westminster with 18 points and nine

rebounds.

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Nonconference

Vanguard 83, Westminster 54

Westminster - Fackrell 11, Layton 6, Steenblik 18, Johnson 9, Stewart 5, Barney 5. 3-pt. goals - Johnson 3, Layton 2, Stewart 1. Fouled out - Barney. Technicals - Coach Park. Vanguard - Josefsson 17, Burns 7 Schmidt 21, Faulkner 18, Mills 8, Wilcox 8,

Besse 2, McClellan 2. 3-pt. goals - Josefsson 3, Mills 2, Faulkner 2, Wilcox 1. Fouled out - Burns. Technicals - None.

*--*