Box Score BOX SCORE

SALT LAKE CITY – The Westminster women's basketball team needed an extra five minutes for the first time this season to defeat Carroll College 89-85 in the semi-finals of the Frontier Conference Tournament on Saturday night. This is the third win this season over Carroll (17-14) for the ninth-ranked Griffins (26-5) and the ninth straight win overall.

Westminster opened the game scoring the first 10 points of the contest and appeared to be on the verge of another home blowout as they pushed the advantage to 15 with 7:15 remaining in the opening half. At that point Carroll looked like they were determined not to let this be the last game of the season as they went on a 20-10 run to end the half trailing just 39-34.

“They didn't want their season to end,” head coach JD Gustin said of the rally by Carroll. “I give them a lot of credit for how they played tonight.”

The second opened with the visitors from Helena using a 16-9 run to take the lead at 50-48 with 12:55 to play in regulation. Carroll remained hot from the field and when Sara Meyer made two free throws with 6:53 to play, Carroll held its biggest lead of the night at 68-60.

From that point on McKenzie Jessop either scored or assisted on five of the final six baskets for the Griffins. During that stretch Westminster got big three-pointers from the right corner by Keshia Catten and then the left corner from Nicole Yazzie.

After Jessop went 1-of-2 at the foul line with 7.8 seconds left, Alex Dunn hit a runner in the lane to tie the game at 77 with 1.2 seconds left that forced overtime.

Leading by three with 2:16 left in overtime, Yazzie buried a three from 32-feet as the shot clock expired to put Westminster up by six. On the next Carroll possession, Dunn hit a three from the corner and keep her team within three at the 1:55 mark. After the teams traded baskets and Jessop went split two free throws, Dunn made another basket in the lane to trim the deficit to 87-85 with 11.3 seconds remaining. Keshia Catten then hit two free throws and Heather Andersen recorded a steal for the Griffins to seal the win.

“These kids have a ton of heart,” Gustin said of his team. “They didn't want to lose and we knew if we could do a better job on the boards we would have a better chance.”

Westminster finished the night shooting 50.9% from the field and was a blistering 60.9% in the opening 20 minutes. The Griffins made eight triples and were 25-of-31 at the foul line. The team finished with 23 assists on 28 field goals and committed just four of the 15 total turnovers after halftime.

Evans led four players in double figures with 22 points, matching her career high she set on Tuesday against Great Falls. She went 7-of-8 from the field, all in the paint, and was 8-of-10 at the charity stripe.

“Dani has had to elevate her game since Allie (Eastman) went out,” Gustin commented of his junior guard. “She is a competitor that doesn't like to lose and that showed tonight.”

Jessop finished with 20 points, nine rebounds, eight assists, and three steals. The eight assists are a career best and were tied for tops in the game with Yazzie. Although she didn't shoot it well, Yazzie added 13 points and six rebounds with those eight assists. Keshia Catten recorded 18 points and heather Andersen had eight points playing a career high 27 minutes.

“Yazzie had an off game tonight, but she can't be an MVP candidate every night,” Gustin said. “Game like this will give her experience which right now is huge.”

Carroll shot 42.2% in the game, but was 54.5% in the second half. They also dominated the boards 41-30 and turned 16 offensive rebounds into 14 points. Dun led all scorers with 27 points while collecting four rebounds and three assists. Meyer added 19 points off the bench and helping Carroll to a 35-10 advantage in bench scoring. Alysha Green had 17.

The win means Westminster will host 13th-ranked Lewis-Clark State in the championship game on Tuesday, March 9. The rematch of last season's title game will begin at 7 p.m. in the Behnken Field House. LC State advanced by defeating Montana Tech tonight. Westminster split two meeting with LC State this season, each winning at home.