Box Score BOX SCORE

SALT LAKE CITY – For the second time in two weeks the Westminster women's basketball team picked up a victory over William Jessup University. Friday, the 10th-ranked Griffins scored a season-high 99 points and claimed a 99-56 win at the Griffin Invitational and improved to 11-2 on the season.

“It seems like it took 12 games to get here,” head coach JD Gustin said after the game. “We have been waiting for a complete team effort and tonight we got that.”

The game was tight through the first eight minutes with the Griffins holding a 15-13 advantage after Kaitlin Lewis completed a three-point play for WJU (0-9) at the 11:45 mark. That would be as close as it would get the rest of the night as Westminster scored the next 14 points and would lead 53-18 with 56 seconds to play in the first half.

“I thought we were really good defensively,” Gustin stated. “We also got more comfortable on offense and really started to get it tonight.”

Michelle Pace led the six Griffins in double figures with 21 points on 8-of-9 shooting. Pace made her first eight shots from the field while also going 5-of-6 at the foul line. Westminster shot a season-best 58.2% from the field in the game and went 12-of-20 (60%) in the final 20 minutes.

Allie Eastman and Nicole Yazzie scored 13 points apiece with fellow starters Jenteal Jackson and Dani Evans adding 12 and 10 points respectively. The bench outscored WJU 30-21 sparked by an 11 point effort from Rebecca Beaudoin.

Westminster collected 31 rebounds in the game to just 25 by the visitors. They turned 10 offensive rebounds into 11 second chance points and outscored the Warriors 36-20 in the paint. Eastman, Pace, and Olivia Pierce-Eiselein all had five rebounds to lead the team.

The Griffins recorded 24 assists on 32 made field goals with just 18 turnovers. Yazzie led everyone with five dimes while Jackson added four assists. Defensively, Westminster held WJU to 44.4% shooting and forced 33 turnovers which resulted in 41 Griffin points.

Ashley Rose led the Warriors with 11 points after scoring 32 in the previous meeting. Nicole Aboumrad added nine points while Cassie Davidson had eight.

Westminster will now face The Master's College on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. in the final game of the Griffin Invitational. The game will be played in the Behnken Field House and follow the William Jessup game against Montana State-Northern at 3:30 p.m