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SALT LAKE CITY – The 11th-ranked Westminster women's basketball team begins Frontier Conference play with two games in the Behnken Field House this week. Westminster faces Montana Tech on Thursday, January 6 and then battles Montana Western on Saturday, January 8. Both games will begin at 5:30 p.m.

Westminster enters the week at 13-3 on the season after splitting two games at the GSAC Challenge last week. Westminster dropped a 93-78 decision with No. 21 Westmont on December 29. They bounced back with an 80-71 victory over No. 17 Cal Baptist on December 30.

The team is averaging 75.7 points per game while shooting 45.8% from the floor. Michelle Pace is the team's top scorer at 14.1 points per game. Pace shoots 61.7% from the floor and leads the team with 91 rebounds. Allie Eastman is now averaging 12.3 points per game after scoring 42 in the two games last week. Nicole Yazzie and Jenteal Jackson are scoring in double figures at 11.3 and 10.3 per game respectively.

About the Orediggers
Montana Tech begins the week with an 11-4 record and riding a three-game winning streak. They shoot 39.3% from beyond the arc to rank fifth nationally while grabbing 46.2 rebounds per night to rank ninth in the NAIA. Meghan Eisenmann leads the team in scoring at 15.5 points per game and ranks sixth in the nation with her 48.6% 3-point field goal percentage. Taesha Higbee grabs 37 rebounds per game to rank 37th nationally.

About the Bulldogs
Montana Western brings a 4-8 record into the week and will face Lewis-Clark State prior the making the trip to SLC. The Bulldogs haven't played since a 111-53 win over The King's University on December 20. That win snapped a five-game losing streak. Chloe Mosey leads the team in scoring 12.8 points per game and shoots 65.5% from the floor to rank fifth in the NAIA. Nicole Tams averages 4.7 assists per night and ranks 18th in the NAIA in that category.

Griffins TV
Both games this week will be available to watch on Griffins TV. Mike Lageschulte will handle the play-by-play with Elisa Leader joining the broadcast on Thursday and Keshia Catten on Saturday. The broadcast will begin around 5:15 p.m. with the pregame show featuring an interview with head coach JD Gustin.

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.

Quest for Three Straight
With Frontier Conference play beginning this week, the Westminster women's basketball team looks to defend two-straight conference championships. The Griffins have gone 27-1 in conference play the past two seasons and won the title each season. The 2009 championship was the first conference title in school history.

Chasing 1,000
Senior Dani Evans needs 163 points to become the fifth player in school history to score 1,000 points in her career. Evans is currently averaging 8.9 points per game and at that pace would finish with 979 career points. Evans also has 137 makes from beyond the arc in her career to rank fourth. She needs 13 to pass Keshia Catten for the third position. Evans has played in all 115 games the team has played during her career. If she appears in the rest of the games this season, Evans will play in more games than anyone in school history.

From the Charity Stripe
Westminster leads the Frontier Conference shooting 75.6% from the foul line. They also rank seventh in the NAIA in that category. They have shot 75% or higher in eight of the 16 contest played this season. Nicole Yazzie is shooting 86.4% from the line. Angela Fales is shooting 95.2% at the stripe and has made her last 14 attempts.

Warming Up
Sophomore Allie Eastman is starting to heat up heading into conference play. Eastman has scored in double figures in eight straight games including a career high 28 against Cal Baptist in the last outing. During this eight-game stretch she has raised her scoring average from 9.3 points per game to 12.3. Eastman is shooting 49.4% from the floor during the stretch and 35% from beyond the arc.

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.

Nation Taking Notice
The Westminster women's basketball team dropped one spot to No. 11 in the NAIA Women's Division I Basketball Coaches' Top 25 Poll, the NAIA announced on December 13. Westminster received 210 points in the poll and switched places in the poll with Bethel University. The Griffins have now been inside the top 25 in 11 consecutive polls dating back to last season. Westminster was ranked 10th in the first two polls released this season.

Home Cooking
Over the past three seasons, Westminster has gone 33-5 at home including a perfect 14-0 in Frontier Conference action. They have won seven straight at home to start the year and 19 of the last 20 games played in the Behnken Field House. Westminster has won 17 straight conference home games dating back to the 2007-08 season with the last conference home loss coming on January 24, 2008 to Carroll, 66-56.

Handling Their Business
The Griffins are 11-0 against NAIA teams that are not ranked in the NAIA top 25 this season after going 24-0 in that situation last year. Over the past three seasons, Westminster is 59-2 against non-ranked opponents. The last unranked team to defeat Westminster was Georgetown College (Ky.) on December 6, 2008. That is a span of 47 straight wins over unranked opposition.

Next Week
The first Frontier Conference road trip of the season takes the Griffins to Carroll on January 13 and Rocky Mountain on January 15.