Box Score BOX SCORE

SALT LAKE CITY – The eighth-ranked Westminster women's basketball team was upset by Carroll College 64-63 in a Frontier Conference Tournament semi-final game on Friday night in the Behnken Field House. The No. 5 seed Carroll got an Alysha Green runner with 2.2 seconds on the clock to take the victory.

Westminster entered the game as the No. 1 seed in the tournament, but falls to 26-6 on the season with the loss. Carroll improves to 21-11 with its second win of the year in Salt Lake City.

“You have to give Carroll all the credit tonight,” head coach JD Gustin said. “They played hard for 40 minutes and they deserved to win tonight.”

After leading 13-5 at the 13:02 mark of the first half, Westminster quickly saw the lead evaporate and the Griffins played from behind much of the night. Carroll would take a 17-15 lead at the 9:55 mark of the first half and would not trail again until there was 5:19 left when Jenteal Jackson made two free throws to put Westminster ahead 55-54.

After a Carroll possession in which they got three shots before a turnover, Westminster got a layup from Dani Evans to push the advantage to three with 4:25 to play. Four straight Carroll points again put the in front until two more Jackson freebies made it 59-58 Griffins with 2:22 remaining. Sara Meyer would split two free throws for Carroll and then Angela Fales scored a layup on a great drive to make it 61-69 for Westminster with 1:44 to play.

The game would remain that way until Jordan Bagley buried a three from the corner to put Carroll ahead 62-61 with 25.7 seconds remaining. Michelle Pace scored a layup with 14.5 seconds left to give the griffins a one point advantage. After each team called a timeout, Green took the ball from the right wing into the paint where she banked in a running 12-footer with 2.2 to play. Jackson fired a shot from half court as time expired, but it sailed wide.

“I'm little disappointed that we didn't rise to the challenge,” Gustin stated. “We just didn't want it as much as Carroll did tonight.”

Westminster suffered its fifth-worst shooting night of the season as they finished the game at 37.7% from the field. The managed just 26 points in the paint and only one player shot 50%. As a team they recorded 12 assists on 20 made field goals and turned seven offensive rebounds into 11 points. Defensively, the Griffins held Carroll to 43.3% shooting and forced them into 12 turnovers with seven steals.

Jackson was the only player to score in double figures as she finished with 16. She posted her first career double-double by adding a career high 10 rebounds while recording four assists and three steals. Pace and Fales scored nine points apiece while Evans and Dana Bates added eight.

Jessica Van Dyke led Carroll with 16 points including 5-of-10 from beyond the arc. Green and Meyer added 11 points apiece. Carroll outrebounded the Griffins 40-31 and had 12 on the offensive end.

Westminster must now wait for an at large berth into the NAIA Women's Basketball National Championships. The field will be announced on Wednesday, March 9 at 6 p.m. live on the Victory Sports Network at www.livestream.com/victorysports.