Women's Hoops Falls to Westminster on Saturday

by Nathan Baliva

MONMOUTH, Ill. (11/18/2023) — The Monmouth College women's basketball team played for the second day in a row on Saturday, falling to SLIAC opponent Westminster 72-53 in a neutral site, non-conference game.

Down 2-0 Jadyn Mitchell (Flanagan, Illinois) scored Monmouth's first basket on the first possession. Neither team scored for the next two minutes and the Blue Jays took the lead. Madison Heisch (Illinois City, Illinois) tied the game and Kynlee Stearns (Gilson, Illinois) hit a 3-pointer for a 7-4 Monmouth lead. Heisch scored again and Allie Hoy (Woodland, Illinois) hit a 3-pointer for a 12-4 lead and a 10-0 Scots run. Westminster answered with five straight before Jones and Olivia Dinges (Amboy, Illinois) scored and Monmouth led 18-11 after the quarter.

Kiersten Cox (Illinois City, Illinois) started the second quarter with a bucket and Jones made a 3-pointer for a 23-13 lead. Westminster went on a 7-0 run before Mitchell made two free throws and Danielle Beach (Geneseo, Illinois) made a layup. The Blue Jays scored the final five points of the half, including a banked-in 3-pointer to send the game to the break tied at 27.

Both teams scored early in the third quarter before Westminster went on a 6-0 run to lead 35-29. Ella Goodrich (Minonk, Illinois) made two free throws as did Mitchell but the Blue Jays used another run to go on top 46-33. The Scots kept knocking down free throws while Goodrich and Jones added two baskets each but Wesminster led 56-45 after the third quarter.

Beach made the first Monmouth field goal of the fourth quarter to cut the Blue Jays lead to 64-48 with 3:55 to play. Down 20, Stearns made a 3-pointer but the Blue Jays scored the next four to go up 72-51. Taj Hanserd (Rockford, Illinois) scored the final basket of the game with 30 seconds left

Jones led the Scots with 11 points while both Mitchell and Goodrich had eight. Dinges led the team with seven rebounds and Jones had two assists. Mitchell grabbed three steals and four different players had a blocked shot.

MONMOUTH MOMENTS: The Scots played all 15 players and nine scored. Monmouth was 11-17 at the free-throw line. Both teams led by double digits in the game. There were two lead changes and four ties. Stearns was 2-for-4 from 3-point range. The Scots play at home on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. against Eureka.