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Michelle Pace
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Women's Basketball

Women’s Basketball Looks to Extend Win Streak at Home

Michelle Pace
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SALT LAKE CITY – The Westminster women's basketball team will look to extend a four-game winning streak with two games in the Behnken Field House this week. The 11th-ranked Griffins welcome Great Falls to town on Thursday, January 27 before a Saturday, January 29 game with Montana State-Northern. Both games will tipoff at 5:30 p.m.

Thursday's game is Faculty/Staff Appreciation Night with all Westminster faculty and staff and their guests receiving free admission. Saturday is Alumni night where all Westminster alumni receive 2-for-1 admission. The coaching staffs will also be wearing suits and sneakers for Coaches vs. Cancer Weekend. The Utah Jazz Dunk Team will perform at halftime of the men's game.

Westminster brings a 17-4 record into the week after an 88-59 win over then No. 5 Lewis-Clark State last Saturday. The Griffins are tied for first in the Frontier with a 4-1 conference mark. They lead the conference in scoring at 77 points per game while shooting a Frontier-best 45.2% from the field.

About the Argonauts
Great Falls brings a 9-11 overall record and a 2-3 conference mark to SLC. UGF has dropped three straight games after a four-game winning streak. They rank eighth in the Frontier in scoring at 66.5 points per game while allowing 66.1 points per night. Kezia Ford leads the Argos in scoring at 12.8 points per game and shoots 45.1% from the floor. Jamie Young is tops on the team with 140 rebounds and 13 blocks while Chelsea Adams has a team-best 48 assists.

About the Sky Lights
Montana State-Northern enters the week at 11-10 overall and 2-3 in the conference. They won two home games last week over Carroll and Rocky Mountain to snap a three-game losing skid. The Sky Lights average 69.6 points per game and are third nationally by shooting 76.8% at the foul line. Samm Schermele is second in the Frontier in scoring at 18.7 points per game which also ranks 16th nationally. Laramie Schwenke leads the team in rebounds, assists and steals.

Griffins TV
Both of this week's games will air live on Griffins TV. The broadcast will go live approximately 15 minutes prior to tipoff with Mike Lageschulte handling the play-by-play. Elisa Leader be along providing color commentary on Thursday with Keshia Catten appearing on Saturday. Head coach JD Gustin will be featured in the pregame show and then sit down with the crew following the game.

Live Stats
Live Stats will be available for both games this week. Fans can access the Live Stats at WestminsterGriffins.com with the feed going live about 10 minutes prior to tipoff.

Chasing a Championship
With a 4-1 start, Westminster tied atop the Frontier Conference standings with nine games remaining. The Griffins are going for a third consecutive conference title this season after never finishing higher than third before the 2008-09 season. The current magic number to clinch a third straight title is 10.

Chasing 1,000
Senior Dani Evans is on a quest to become the fifth player in school history to score 1,000 career points. Evans enters the week with 912 career points and needs to average 8.8 points per game over the remaining scheduled games to reach 1,000. Evans has never missed a game in her Griffin career and if that continues she will finish her career having played in more games than any other Griffin.

Open for Three
The Griffins are once again among the top 3-point shooting team in the nation. The team averages 8.4 makes from beyond the arc per game to rank first in the Frontier and fourth in the NAIA. Westminster also shoots 36% from long range to rank second in the conference and 13th nationally. Dani Evans makes 42.5% of her attempts from beyond the arc while making 1.76 per game. Nicole Yazzie averages 2.43 treys per night while shooting 38.3% from distance.

From the Charity Stripe
Westminster is shooting 77% from the foul line this season to lead the Frontier Conference. The team is second in the NAIA with that percentage. They have shot above 71% at the stripe in nine straight games and five times in that stretch have been above 80%. Westminster has gone 52-of-61 (85.2%) at the line in the previous three games. Jenteal Jackson is shooting 78.9% at the stripe which ranks 39th nationally and fifth in the conference. Michelle Pace ranks eighth in the Frontier at 76.4% from the line.

Home Cooking
Over the past three seasons, Westminster has gone 35-6 at home including a 16-1 mark in Frontier Conference action. They started the year with seven straight home wins before suffering an 88-76 loss to Montana Tech on January 6. The Griffins have won 21 of the last 23 games played in the Behnken Field House.

Streaking in the Poll
With a No. 11 ranking in the NAIA Division I Women's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 Poll that was released on January 24, Westminster has now been ranked inside the top 25 for 16 consecutive polls. They have also been ranked in the top 25 in 41 of the last 42 polls and received votes in the poll they weren't ranked. The Griffins started this season at No. 10 and have been as low as No. 15.

Massey Ratings
Westminster sits at No. 15 in the Massey Ratings that were released on January 24. They moved up one spot from the previous week and have a rating of 0.808 to rank second in the Frontier Conference. The conference as a whole is rated as the No. 2 conference overall, trailing just the Golden State Athletic Conference.

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.

Next Week
The Griffins will begin the second half of the conference schedule with a trip to Montana. Westminster will face Montana Western in Dillon on February 4 before a first-place battle with Montana Tech on February 6 in Butte.
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