Women’s Basketball: Lions knock off Mustangs

Deferential and demure during her postgame interview, one might quickly assess that Vanguard University junior forward Claire Lamunu is largely unaware how good she is becoming on the women’s basketball court.

But she’s starting to make it glaringly apparent to others.

The 6-foot-1 first-year transfer from Uganda came off the bench to amass a career-high 17 points, and gather 11 rebounds to help the No. 3-seeded and No. 6-ranked Lions knock off No. 5-ranked and No. 2-seeded The Master’s, 57-44, on Saturday.

The victory in the semifinals of the Golden State Athletic Conference Tournament at Hope International University, propelled Coach Russ Davis’ squad (24-5) into Tuesday’s 5 p.m. title game against top-seeded and No. 2-ranked Westmont (27-3).

The Lions largely have Lamunu to thank for pushing past the Mustangs, who had won the last three meetings in the series, including a 60-54 triumph in last season’s GSAC final.

Though she was the third player off the Vanguard bench, Lamunu nearly compiled a double-double in the final period Saturday. She had 10 points and seven rebounds in the last eight minutes, and scored nine of her team’s last 10 points in the final 3:27.

Lamunu’s double-double was her second in two tournament games and her third in the last five contests. Prior to that, she had gone 23 games without posting the statistical windfall after recording 14 points and 11 rebounds in the season opener.

“Claire changed the game,” Davis said of Lamunu, who had made five of eight field-goal tries, was seven for 10 from the foul line and added two blocks and one steal to help three Vanguard reserves match the combined 31 points produced by the five TMC starters. “When she started blocking shots, [the Mustangs] started altering their shots and shooting funny. [Lamunu] gets better every day and it’s fun to watch her. I couldn’t be happier for the kid and it couldn’t happen to a better person.”

Sophomore guard Kandyce Smith, a transfer from UNLV, added to the bench brigade with 11 points, three rebounds and two steals. It was the only the second double-figure scoring performance in the last 18 games for Smith, who made four of eight field-goal attempts, including two mid-range jumpers. In the 17 previous games, Smith was a mere 12 for 66 from the field (18.2%) and had been shooting just 22.4% from the field for the season (33 for 147), before Saturday.

“Kandyce stepped up today too,” said Davis, who was effusive about his team’s defense, which held TMC to 27.9% from the field (17 for 61), including 22.9% after intermission (eight for 35).

“That was a great, great defensive effort,” Davis said. “We grinded it out. I challenged [the players] to play 40 minutes of good defense and we came pretty close.

“We came out in a 1-3-1 matchup zone and that kind of got [the Mustangs] off-balance,” Davis said. “No one has seen that yet; we were kind of saving that for this tournament and the NAIA Tournament. Then, we went to our [seldom-utilized] man-to-man defense and got physical and aggressive and kept them in front of us. And we also had people blocking and altering shots [five blocks]. I’m telling you, I’m really happy with our defense.”

The first half included seven tie scores and six lead changes, but Vanguard used a 10-1 run to close to half to take a 29-25 intermission lead.

TMC hit a three-pointer to pull within 34-33 with 4:25 left in the third quarter, but Vanguard junior reserve Hanna Tabron connected from threedom (her only shot of the game and the Lions’ lone three-pointer in six tries) to spark a 13-2 run that helped Vanguard pull away and advance.

Vanguard is attempting to earn its ninth GSAC Tournament crown, its first in three seasons, since defeating Westmont in the 2013 final.

Samantha Doucette had 10 points, while teammate and fellow senior All-GSAC honoree Melissa Norman added nine points, six rebounds, three assists, one block and one steal. Norman, the NAIA’s leading rebounder, saw her streak of double-doubles end at 11.

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GSAC Tournament

Semifinal

Vanguard 57, The Master’s 44

SCORE BY QUARTERS

VU 14 – 15 – 12 – 16 – 57

TMC 13 – 12 – 10 – 9 – 44

VU – Doucette 10, Goff 0 , Norman 9, Kennedy 7, Lamunu 17, Smith 11, Tabron 3.

3-pt. goals – Tabron 1.

Fouled out – None.

Technicals – None.

TMC – Lowery 7, Cubello 6, Lindsley 14, Bartow 2, Thompson 2, Nitake 5, Burns 5, Iddings 3.

3-pt. goals – Lindsley 2, Nitake 1, Iddings 1.

Fouled out – None.

Technicals – None.