Box Score BOX SCORE

SALT LAKE CITY – The eighth-ranked Westminster women's basketball team advanced to the Frontier Conference Tournament semi-finals for the third consecutive year with a 67-57 win over Great Falls on Tuesday night.

Westminster is the top seed in the tournament and they improve to 26-5 on the year with the victory. The No. 8 seed Great Falls drops to 10-20 with the loss.

“We are excited to win,” head coach JD Gustn said. “It was definitely playoff basketball.”

Things started great for Westminster in the rematch of last Saturday's regular season finale. The Griffins started the game with a 17-2 run over the opening 4:40. Michelle Pace scored seven of the first eight points for Westminster and assisted another Griffin basket. Nicole Yazzie would connect on a three at the 10:51 mark to put Westminster on top 27-11.

“It was a nice start for our kids,” Gustin said of the 17-2 run. “Give credit to Great Falls, they played hard and made it tough for us.”

Great Falls didn't go away and the visitors put together a 12-2 run of their own and trailed just 29-23 with 5:44 left in the first half. A 3-point play from Jenteal Jackson push the Westminster lead back to 12 and it would eventually be 36-27 for the Griffins at halftime.

UGF had several possessions early in the second half with a shot to take the lead, but the Westminster defensive forced tough shots ad they team grabbed the rebounds. Both teams would put runs together in the final 10 minutes, but UGF could only get two shots after they cut the lead to six with 1:08 to play. The Griffins grabbed three offensive rebounds in that stretch to seal the win.

Westminster shot 43.1% from the field in the game after starting the game 7-for-7. The Griffins hit eight triples while recording 15 assists on 25 made field goals. Westminster scored 34 points in the paint and grabbed 41 rebounds with16 coming on the offensive end. The nation's third-best free throw shooting team struggled at the stripe. Westminster was just 9-of-15 at the line including 6-of-9 in the final two minutes.

On the defensive end, Westminster held UGF to 41.5% shooting and forced them into 17 turnovers. Westminster had nine steals and scored 10points from turnovers and eight points in transition.

Yazzie led all scores with 14 points behind 3-of-8 from beyond the arc. Jackson added 13 points and a career-best eight rebounds. Dani Evans scored 10 points with four assists while Brooke Larsen sparked17 points from the bench by scoring 10. Pace finished with nine points, nine rebounds, and two assists. Pace grabbed six rebounds on the offensive end.

Marissa Skogen led Great Falls with 13 points. Jamie Young added 12 points and five rebounds while Sarah Sciascia added 10 points. UGF forced the Griffins into 19 turnovers and scored 17 points from them.

Westminster will now advance to the semi-finals where they will face fifth-seeded Carroll on Friday, March 4. Carroll advanced with an 82-79 win at fourth-seeded Rocky Mountain College on Tuesday. Friday's game will begin at 7 p.m. in the Behnken Field House.