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SALT LAKE CITY – The Westminster women's basketball team earned a three-seed and an opening round game against Lambuth (Tenn.) at the 2010 Division I Women's Basketball National Championship. The Griffins will open the tournament on Wednesday, March 17 at 4:45 p.m. MT.
“We are super excited about getting a three seed,” head coach JD Gustin said. “It's the highest seed we have received in our four years so you can't beat that.”
Westminster and Lambuth met during the regular season at the Jackson Rotary Classic in Tennessee on November 21. Westminster scored 62 points in the second half to carry them to a 95-88 win. Lambuth, who was ranked ninth at the time of the previous meeting, led by as many as 17 points in the game only to see the Griffins go 8-of-10 from beyond the arc in the second half.
“The good thing about playing Lambuth is we know something about them,” Gustin stated. “Having played them before gives us a bit of a defensive plan which is a good advantage to have.”
This is the fourth consecutive trip to the national tournament for the Griffins and the fourth overall selection. Westminster is 2-3 all-time at the tournament and advanced to the second round of the 2009 event. The other Griffin win came in the opening round of the 2007 tournament. This is the eighth trip to the tournament for Lambuth and fourth consecutive. They won the 2007 national championship and were runners-up last season.
“Playing in Wednesday at 5:45 is like the perfect time,” Gustin said. “We feel really fortunate to get that draw.”
Westminster is 26-6 on the season and won the Frontier Conference regular season with a 13-1 record. They lead the nation in field goal percentage at 49.1% and three-point field goal percentage at 40.9%.
McKenzie Jessop leads the Griffins in scoring at 13.9 points per game and was named the Frontier Conference Player of the Year.
“After losing last night we need to get refocused,” said Gustin. “We really need to focus on rebounding because this is going to be a really challenging game.”
Lambuth finished the season at 19-10 overall. The NAIA Division I Independent team ranks 15th nationally in scoring at 75 points per game and averages 6.9 triples per night. Janee Webb leads the team in scoring at 19.2 points per contest and is 11th nationally in that department.
Union (Tenn.) is the tournament's overall No. 1 seed and sits atop the Westminster portion of the bracket. The No. 2 seed on the Griffins portion is Point Loma Nazarene (Calif.). Westminster faced both Union and Point Loma during the regular season.
The entire championship will be played at Oman Arena in Jackson, Tennessee starting in Wednesday, March 17. The semi-finals are scheduled for Monday, March 22 with the national championship game on Wednesday, March 23. Tickets to the event are available by calling (731) 425-8587.
The first 30 games will be video-streamed by NeuLion, the parent company of JumpTV. Three different subscription plans for basketball (Men's and Women's Division I; Men's and Women's Division II) will be available for tournament coverage. Users can purchase the All-Tournament pass, which includes every event offered on College Sports Direct from all four basketball championships for $39.95. Each of the four basketball championships can be purchased separately for $24.95 and any single day can be purchased for $9.95.
