Box Score SALT LAKE CITY – The 14th-ranked Westminster College women's basketball team opened the Frontier Conference Tournament with a 72-49 win over Great Falls on Tuesday in the quarterfinal round.
Westminster is the tournament's No. 1 seed and they improve to 21-7 overall with their 10th consecutive victory. Great Falls was the No. 8 seed and they complete their season with a 9-19 record.
The Griffins led the entire game and played one of their best opening halves of the year. They raced out to a 19-7 lead over the first 11 minutes and scored the majority of their points down low. A 9-1 run late in the half helped grow the advantage to 35-16 and they would eventually lead 38-21 at halftime.
The second half was much of the same as the Griffins put together an 11-1 run that helped them open up a 63-33 lead with 7:05 to play. That would be the largest lead of the night for Westminster as they outscored UGF 34-28 after intermission.
Westminster shot 49.1% from the floor in the game and scored 48 points in the paint. They entered the game leading the Frontier in threes per game, but finished just 2-of-16 on Tuesday. The Griffins came up with 17 assists on 27 made field goals with 29 rebounds. They turned 10 offensive rebounds into 11 second chance points while also getting 29 points from the bench.
The defense held UGF to 42.2% shooting and just 3-of-13 from beyond the arc. Westminster forced a season-high 26 turnovers and scored 28 points from the Argonauts miscues, with 16 points on the fast break. The Griffins 19 steals in the game were also a season-high.
Nicole Yazzie led all scorers in the game with 14 points. The junior guard added four assists and three steals on the night.
Dana Bates scored 11 points while grabbing five rebounds.
Tia Pappas again added a spark off the bench with 11 points, five steals, three rebounds and two assists in just 16 minutes.
Cydney Tibbitts,
Jenteal Jackson and
Shelby Ellsworth all scored eight points. Jackson added five assists and five steals.
Kezia Ford and Lindsey Abramson finished with 11 points apiece to lead the Argos. UGF finished with a 32-29 rebounding advantage and forced 13 Griffin turnovers.
Westminster will now advance to the semi-final of the tournament where they will host a yet to be determined opponent on Saturday. The Griffins will play the lowest remaining seed after tomorrow's games in the Behnken Field House at 7 p.m. For more information be sure to visit WestminsterGriffins.com/playoffs.
