Box Score BOX SCORE

SALT LAKE CITY – The 11th-ranked Westminster women's basketball team suffered an 88-76 loss to Montana Tech in the Frontier Conference opener for each team on Thursday. Westminster drops a game for the second time and three games and falls to 13-4 overall and 0-1 in the Frontier. Montana Tech improves to 12-4 with the win and 1-0 in conference.

Westminster led 61-56 with 6:19 remaining before Tech went on a 23-4 run over the next five minutes to earn the victory. Taesha Higbee scored 14 of her game high 35 points during that stretch. The Griffins shot just 2-of-8 during the deciding run and were outrebounded 8-0. They finished the game shooting 41.2% from the field and only 26.7% from beyond the arc.

“They played a great game,” head coach JD Gustin said of Montana Tech. “Winning on the road is tough in this league and you need special performances and they got that tonight.”

The loss snaps a 17-game conference home winning streak and is the first against an unranked opponent since 2008. The last loss to an unranked NAIA opponent came against Georgetown (Ky.) on December 6, 2008. This is also the first time Westminster has been 0-1 in conference since the 2007-08 season.

Dani Evans led all Griffins with 22 points. She shot 7-of-14 from the floor and had three makes fromlong range. Evans also made 5-of-6 free throws while grabbing five rebounds. Nicole Yazzie finished with 19 points and five assists. Brooke Larsen scored 10 off the bench.

Higbee scored her 35 points on 11-of-15 shooting for the Orediggers. She was also 4-of-5 from beyond the arc and grabbed 11 rebounds for a double-double. Meghan Eisenmann added 20 points. Tech shot 49.2% from the floor and outrebounded the Griffins 44-34.

Westminster will look to bounce back on Saturday, January 8 when they host Montana Western at 5:30 p.m. in the Behnken Field House.