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SALT LAKE CITY – The Westminster College women's basketball team will begins Frontier Conference play with two road games this weekend. Westminster places at Montana Tech in Butte on Friday before facing Montana Western in Dillon on Saturday. Both games will begin at 5:30 p.m.
Griffin Notebook
Westminster opens league play after going 7-6 during the non-conference season. They are coming off two wins at the Biola Holiday Classic last week and have won four of their last five games. The Griffins are 1-2 in road games this season and 2-4 in all games played away from the Behnken Field House.
Westminster currently sits fourth in the Frontier Conference in scoring offense at 69.2 points per game. The team shoots 41.4% from the field to rank sixth in the league while making a league-high 8.15 threes per outing. The Griffins shoot 34.3% from beyond the arc and rank sixth in the NAIA in makes per game.
On the defensive end, Westminster limits the opposition to 59.2 points per game and 37.8% shooting. The Griffins grab 38.2 rebounds per game and force the opposition into 14.7 turnovers per game. They collect 7.3 steals per contest and average 14.2 assists. Westminster leads the Frontier with a 1.00 assist-to-turnover ratio which also ranks ninth nationally.
Five Griffins are averaging double figures in points per contest.
Nicole Yazzie is tops on the squad at 12.8 points per game with
Dana Bates close behind at 11.8.
Shelby Ellsworth and
Jenteal Jackson are scoring 11.6 and 10.2 points per game respectively.
Cydney Tibbitts made her season debut last week and averaged 13 points per game over the two games.
Ellsworth is fifth in the league in rebounding at 8.2 boards per game and Bates is ninth at 6.5. Jackson averages 3.7 assists to rank fifth with Yazzie in sixth at 3.5. Yazzie leads the NAIA in free throw percentage at 96.3% and is third in the conference with 28 threes.
Game Coverage
Both games of the road trip will be available to watch online as well as having live stats available. Links to access the live video and stats can be found at WestminsterGriffins.com on the day of the game. You can also find the live video at www.gotw.tv and the live stats at www.dakstats.com/naia.
Frontier Dominance
Over the past four seasons, Westminster has been the best team in the Frontier Conference during league play. The Griffins have compiled a 49-7 (.875) record during league action since the 2007-08 season. Those 49 wins are four more than the 45 posted by Lewis-Clark State during that same time frame. Only the Griffins and LCSC have been above .500 in league play over the past four years.
The dominance is even greater over the past three seasons. Westminster has won three straight regular season conference championships and has gone 39-3 (.929) in league play during that stretch. LCSC is again second over the span, winning 32 games over the past three seasons.
Chasing 20
Westminster enters 2012 needing 13 wins for a sixth straight 20-win season. The team had never had a 20-win year prior to the 2006-07 season when they won 22. During the current five-year streak, the Griffins are averaging 25 wins per season and qualified for the NAIA National Championships each season. Westminster set a school record with 28 wins last season.
Dynamite Debut
After missing the first 11 games of the season, junior Tibbitts made her season debut against Hope International last Thursday. She scored a team-high 15 points while also leading the team with 11 rebounds for her first career double-double. The Pasco, Wash. native then came back to score 11 points with six rebounds the next night against The Master's College.
Through two games, the University of Utah transfer is averaging 13 points and 8.5 rebounds per outing. Tibbitts is shooting 62.5% from the floor with two makes from beyond the arc. She averages 25.5 minutes per game off the bench and also has three assists and one steal.
Clutch at the Stripe
Westminster can be found first in the conference with a 75.2% free throw percentage. They have shot above 70% at the stripe in nine of the 13 games and eight times have been above 80%. They rank seventh in the NAIA in free throw percentage. In clutch situation, Westminster shoots 77.3% at the line this season. Clutch situations are defined as any free throw with less than 5:00 remaining in the game (plus all of overtime) and a positive or negative differential of 10 points or less.
Yazzie is the top free throw shooter in the NAIA. The junior guard has made 96.3% of her attempts this year and has made her last 25 attempts at the stripe after staring the season with 24 straight makes at the line. Bates ranks seventh in the Frontier with her 73.8% percentage. Yazzie is 6-for-7 (85.7%) in clutch situations while Bates is 8-of-10 (80%).
Dynamic Backcourt
Westminster features one of the top 1-2 backcourt punches in the NAIA. The combination of Yazzie and Jackson combine to average 23 points per game while also handing out 7.2 assists per outing. Yazzie is 11th in the Frontier in scoring while Jackson ranks 19th. They sit fifth and sixth in the league in assists and fourth and fifth in the Frontier in 3-point field goals made.
Jackson is shooting 41.9% from beyond the arc and is third in the conference and 22nd nationally in that category. She is averaging 2.0 threes per game and is tops in the Frontier with a 1.71 assist-to-turnover ratio. She also grabs 3.54 defensive rebounds per game which is 15th in the conference.
Bates Playing Big Time
Senior Bates is 12th in the Frontier on scoring at 11.8 points per game and is shooting 52.3% from the field. She has scored in double figures nine times this season and twice been above 20 points. The forward from Warden, Wash. also grabs 6.5 rebounds per game to rank ninth in the league while placing 11th in offensive rebounds at 2.6 per contest. Bates has led the team in scoring on four occasions this season. She has been the team's top rebounder in five games and twice gone for at least 10 boards in a game.
Freshman Sensation
Ellsworth is off to a fast start during her freshman campaign. The forward has started all 13 games this season and is averaging 11.6 points per game, scoring in double figures eight times. She is 13th in the Frontier in scoring and is the second-highest scoring freshman in the league. Ellsworth is 37th in the NAIA in rebounding at 8.2 per contest and also ranks fifth in the Frontier.
She matched a school-record with 20 rebounds in a win over Cal Maritime on Nov. 10. During that game, Ellsworth had 14 offensive rebounds while also scoring a career-high 23 points. She has four games with double-digit rebounds and three double-doubles so far this season.
Massey Ratings
Westminster is up to No. 31 in the latest Massey Ratings that were released on Tuesday. The Griffins have a rating of 0.538 and rank second among the eight teams in the Frontier Conference. The conference as a whole is rated sixth among the 12 total NAIA DI leagues. According to the ratings, Westminster has played the 20th-toughest schedule while being rated as the No. 19 team defensively.
The Massey Ratings are compiled each week with new ranking being released on Sundays. Kenneth Massey is the creator of the rating formula and all ratings can be found on his web site at www.masseyratings.com.
