Box Score BOX SCORE
SALT LAKE CITY – The Westminster women's basketball team dropped an 80-60 decision in the Frontier Conference Tournament championship game on Tuesday night in the Behnken Field House. The loss drops the fourth-ranked Griffins to 26-6 on the season and snaps a nine game winning streak.
“LC is a really good basketball team,” head coach JD Gustin said. “We have had to play so perfectly since Eastman went out and tonight it caught up with us.”
No. 13 Lewis-Clark State (28-5) got off to a quick start and never looked back. The visiting Warriors opened the game with a 15-2 run. Westminster would get back within two with eight minutes remaining in the half and eventually trailed 39-26 at the intermission. After the teams traded hoops to begin the second half, LC State scored 14 unanswered points and built a 19 point advantage with 11:50 to play. Westminster would not get closer than 16 the rest of the way and LC State won the tournament championship on the Griffins home floor for a second consecutive year.
“I'm really proud of them for how they played tonight,” Gustin said. “They just kept battling and that is what you have to do when you have off nights.”
Westminster shot just 38.5% from the floor in the game; well below the 49.2% they have shot for the season to lead the nation. The Griffins never seemed to get into any offensive rhythm and finished with 19 turnovers. They played just eight players for the fourth straight game and appeared the late season injuries had caught up with them.
Keshia Catten finished with 17 points on 6-of-15 shooting in 40 minutes. This was the fifth straight game Catten had played 40 minutes including a 43 minute game last Saturday against Carroll.
Dani Evans had 12 points, with 10 coming in the second half, and grabbed four rebounds.
McKenzie Jessop finished with 10 points and eight rebounds.
“This team has won a lot of basketball games,” Gustin commented. “To get to No. 9 in the country is a tribute to how hard they have played and hopefully we will get rewarded with a good seed for the tournament.”
Jasmine Stohr was the difference all night for the visitors from Idaho. She finished with a game-high 28 points to go with seven rebounds and five assists. She shot 5-of-7 in the second half and hit several key shots to stop any chance of a Westminster comeback.
“She was the best player on the floor tonight,” Gustin said of Stohr. “She was determined to get this done tonight and she did that.”
LC State turned those 19 Westminster turnovers into 22 points and had a 45-26 advantage on the boards. Nikki DePeel and Alyssa Fierro scored 11 points apiece while Kirsi Voshell added 10. Kenna Reiter had eight points, eight assists, and four steals.
Although they lost, Westminster still received an at-large berth into the 2010 NAIA Division I Women's Basketball National Championship. The field of 32 teams was announced by the NAIA office following the game and Westminster received the No. 4 at-large bid. The pairings for the tournament will be unveiled on Wednesday, March 10 at 2 p.m. live on collegefanz.com. The tournament begins with opening round games on Wednesday, March 17 at Oman Arena in Jackson, Tennessee.
