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SALT LAKE CITY – The 10th-ranked Westminster women's basketball team plays host to the Westminster Fall Classic with three games in the Behnken Field House this weekend. The Griffins open on Thursday, November 11 with a 4 p.m. game against Cal Baptist. On Friday, November 12, Westminster will play the College of Idaho at 6 p.m. and then play Pacific Union on Saturday, November 13 at 6 p.m.
Frontier Conference teams Carroll and Montana Western will also be in town for games during the tournament. Carroll will play in the 2 p.m. game each day while Montana Western plays at 6 p.m. on Thursday and at 4 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
Westminster enters the week at 4-1 on the season after picking up two home wins last weekend. The Griffins defeated Concordia (Ore.) 70-63 on November 5 and followed that with a 68-54 defeat of Warner Pacific on November 6. Westminster has now won three straight and has won 12 straight regular season games in Behnken.
Westminster is 1-1 all-time against Cal Baptist and leads the series with College of Idaho 8-7. The meeting with Pacific Union will be the first ever between the two teams. Westminster claimed a 101-90 win over Cal Baptist in the last meeting on November 14, 2008. The Griffins defeated College of Idaho 93-91 in a November 13, 2009 meeting.
Griffins TV
Fans can now watch all Westminster home basketball games live online at Griffins TV. Nate Terry will handle the play-by-play this weekend. The pregame show begins approximately 10 minutes prior to tipoff with coach Gustin appearing in the postgame show. To watch the game, visit WestminsterGriffins.com and click on the Griffins TV link.
Live Stats
All home games this season will feature Live Stats. The feed goes live shortly before first serve so fans can get all the action directly on their computer or mobile device. Visit WestminsterGriffins.com to access the Live Stats.
Offensive Notebook
>Westminster ranks seventh in the Frontier in scoring at 68 points per game.
>The team is shooting 43.5% from the field and 32.3% from 3-point range.
>The Griffins shoot 76.3% from the foul line and rank 11th nationally in that category.
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Michelle Pace leads the team in scoring at 13.8 points per game.
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Dani Evans is fourth in the NAIA with 11 made 3-pointers.
Defensive Notebook
>Defensively the Griffins allow 63.4 points per game and rank sixth in the conference.
>Westminster opponents are shooting 39.9% from the field and 27.8% from beyond the arc.
>The Griffins have forced the opposition into 18.8 turnovers per game with a 0.7 assist-to-turnover ratio.
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Jenteal Jackson is sixth in the Frontier in steals at 1.8 per contest.
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Michelle Pace is averaging 1.4 blocks per game to rank 50th nationally.
Frontier Favorites
In a poll of the Frontier Conference women's basketball coaches, the Westminster women's basketball team was chosen to win the 2010-11 championship. The Griffins received five first-place votes and 47.5 total points in the poll. They also received a split first-place vote with Lewis-Clark State College. This is the first time the Griffin shave been chosen to win the league and the first time they have received a first-place vote.
Nation Taking Notice
The Westminster women's basketball team will start the 2010-11 season with a No. 10 national ranking. The NAIA Women's Division I Basketball Coaches' Top 25 Preseason Poll was released by the NAIA on October 25 with the Griffins receiving 223 points to earn the highest preseason ranking in school history. Westminster finished last season ranked ninth in the final poll.
Doubling Up
Westminster will play on back-to-back nights 10 times during the 2010-11 season. They swept the back-to-back games played last weekend and are now 1-0-1 on the year. The team split the first back-to-back of the season, picking up a win over San Diego Christian and losing to Vanguard the next night. The Griffins played nine back-to-backs last season and came up with six sweeps and three splits. The team went 9-2 in the first game of the back-to-back and matched that with a 9-2 record in the second night.
Home Cooking
Over the past two seasons, Westminster has gone 28-5 at home including a perfect 14-0 in Frontier Conference action. They have won 17 straight conference home games dating back to the 2007-08 season with the last conference home loss coming on January 24, 2008 to Carroll, 66-56.
Handling Their Business
The Griffins went 24-0 against teams that were not ranked in the NAIA top 25 last season and have started with two wins this year. Over the past three seasons, Westminster is 52-2 against non-ranked opponents. The last unranked team to defeat Westminster was Georgetown College (Ky.) on December 6, 2008. That is a span of 44 straight wins over unranked opposition.
Next Week
Westminster will head to California for two games against teams from the California Pacific Conference. They will face William Jessup on November 19 and then Simpson on November 20.
