Box Score BOX SCORE
SALT LAKE CITY – Behind a strong showing in the first half, the 11th-ranked Westminster women's basketball team earned a 66-53 win over Montana State-Northern on Saturday night in the Behnken Field House.
The win improves the Griffins to 10-4 overall and 6-1 in the Frontier Conference. Northern falls to 11-12 and 2-5 with the loss.
Westminster took a 9-7 lead at the 11:02 mark of the first half on a
Dana Bates layup. That basket gave the Griffins a lead they would never relinquish and was part of a 12-2 run. A
Nicole Yazzie three at the 3:10 mark gave Westminster its largest lead of the first half of 14 and they would carry a 36-23 advantage into the intermission.
The Griffins started slow in the second 20 minutes and when Samm Schermele hit a three at the 12:17 mark, Northern trailed just 41-37 behind a 12-2 run of their own. Westminster would get consecutive layups from
Brooke Larsen and
Michelle Pace to regain momentum and an eight-point lead. An 11-4 run capped by another Yazzie three would push the advantage to 17 at the 5:46 mark where Northern would never recover.
The Griffins shot 57.7% in the opening half while recording 14 assists on 15 made field goals. They finished the game shooting 46.6% from the field and with 22 assists and only 15 turnovers. Westminster also hit on nine triples in 24 attempts.
Westminster also dominated on the glass, posting a 39-29 rebounding advantage. The griffins collected 13 offensive rebounds and turned them into 14 points. They also scored 26 points in the paint and got 22 points from the bench.
Dana Bates posted her second straight double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds in 20 minutes off the bench. Pace scored a team-high 17 points with nine rebounds and Larsen added 11 points.
Dani Evans scored 10 points while grabbing seven rebounds.
Schermele led MSU-Northern with 29 points behind a 14-of-14 effort at the foul line. Not other Sky Light had more than five points with Laramie Schwenke grabbing a team-best seven boards.
Westminster will now hit the road for two games. They start the trip against Montana Western on February 4 in Dillon, Montana.
