Box Score SALT LAKE CITY – It may have taken the 19th-ranked Westminster College women's basketball team to get started, but one they did the Griffins never let up in a 78-63 win over Montana Western in the Behnken Field House on Thursday night.
Westminster (14-7, 7-1 Frontier) fell behind by as many as 10 points during the first half. Western (12-9, 2-6) twice had 10 point leads, including a 26-16 advantage with 6:18 to play in the opening half. The Griffins then put together a 12-2 run that featured three layups and seven free throws to tie the game at 28 with 1:50 to play. UMW eventually took a one-point lead into the intermission.
Trailing 40-38 at the 16:47 mark, Westminster scored 17 consecutive points to build a 55-40 lead with 11:41 to play and never trailed again. The Griffins would eventually push the advantage to 19 with 5:47 remaining after back-to-back hoops from
Nicole Yazzie. Western would get back within 11 with 2:45 remaining, but not closer.
Westminster finished the game shooting 42.9% from the floor while also shooting 7-of-16 (43.8%) from beyond the arc. They scored 34 points in the paint and had 19 assists on 27 made field goals. The defense held UMW to 41.7% shooting and forced them into 28 turnovers which resulted in 17 Griffin points.
Yazzie led five Griffins in double figures with 20 points. She shot 8-of-14 from the floor with three makes from beyond the arc. It was her fifth 20-point game of the season and second straight. The junior guard also added four rebounds, two assists, one steal and one block.
Jenteal Jackson finished the game with 13 points, eight rebounds, six assists and two steals.
Cydney Tibbitts added 12 points and a team-high nine rebounds with
Dana Bates scoring 10.
Shelby Ellsworth sparked a 21-point bench effort with 14 points.
Hayley Pettit led Western with 19 points and 12 rebounds for her conference leading 13th double-double of the year. Roxy Thurman added 15 points while Kassi Kerbs and Alecia Wilson scored 12 and 11 respectively.
Westminster will look for a fourth straight win on Saturday when they host Montana Tech. The action begins at 5:30 p.m. in the Behnken Field Hose.
