At Last, Lions Beat Ocean View
Westminster has never won a league title, but it didn’t wait long Thursday to seize control of the Golden West League.
Westminster, ranked 10th in Orange County, bolted to a 14-2 lead and went on to beat ninth-ranked Ocean View, 59-41, in the league opener.
The Lions, who hadn’t beaten Ocean View in more than a decade, are clearly in the driver’s seat; they were never seriously challenged against the team that should provide their stiffest challenge.
The host Seahawks (9-6, 0-1) had won 16 straight league games, including a perfect 10 last year in the first year of the Golden West League. They played without Becky Fraser (stomach flu) and it showed; Ocean View lacked the size to handle Westminster’s powerful front line of Kristin Schult (18 points, seven rebounds) and Tanzenika Holmes (16 points, eight rebounds), though the Lions (13-3, 1-0) played without point guard Letty Gil (shoulder).
Schult said she was surprised the victory came so easily, “but I think it was because we were all playing together as a team.”
It’s the first time anything has been easy for Westminster, which had a 1-99 record in the five years before Coach Dick Katz arrived five years ago. Last season was the first time the program challenged for a league title, finishing tied for second.
“When I first came here, we kept losing by 30 points,” said Schult, a 6-foot-2 senior who was on the varsity as a freshman. “We’ve grown so much. It’s great to finally be in the spotlight and get some recognition.”
After beating top-ranked Woodbridge and leading second-ranked Fountain Valley in the fourth quarter the past week, neither Schult nor Katz expects this team to get complacent now that they’re winning for the first time since the school opened in 1960.
“This is one of the best defensive clubs I’ve coached,” Katz said, “and they’ve bought into the fact that we have to play defense to win games.”
Ocean View shot 28% from the field. Jennifer Tuiolosega led the Seahawks with 18 points, nine in the fourth quarter.
In another league game:
Rosary 59, Tustin 35--Lauren Murphy scored 16 points for host Rosary (8-8, 1-0), which led by 19 points at halftime and 55-20 after three quarters. Sarah Belavic had 14 points and nine assists for the Royals. Shamekia Perkins scored 12 points for Tustin (6-9, 0-1).