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SALT LAKE CITY – The Westminster College women's basketball team remains at home this week for two more Frontier Conference games. The fifth-ranked Griffins host Frontier newcomer Dickinson State (N.D.) on Thursday before rival Carroll (Mont.) comes to town on Saturday. Both games will begin at 5:30 p.m. in the Behnken Field House.

Game Coverage
Both of this week's games will be carried live on Griffins TV. They will not be available on Comcast this week. Mike Lageschulte (play-by-play) and Lance Barton will handle to call of the game. Live Stats will also be available for fans during each game. You can find links for all of the live features in the calendar section of WestminsterGriffins.com.

Griffin Notebook
The Griffins head into play this week at 16-2 overall and 5-0 in Frontier Conference games. They have won eight straight games for the second time this season to match the third-longest winning streak in school history. Westminster swept home games over Great Falls (Mont.) and Montana State-Northern last weekend.

Westminster is 5-1 at home this season and has won five straight in the Behnken Field House. They have a 3-1 record in games played on Thursday and are 8-1 in Saturday games. The Griffins are 13-1 this season when scoring at least 60 points and are 16-0 on the year when holding the opposition below 70 points.

After scoring 153 points in the two wins last week, Westminster is now fifth in the Frontier in scoring at 63.17 points per game. They lead the league by shooting 42.2 percent from the floor and rank second at 35.5 percent from beyond the arc. That 3-point percentage is ninth in the NAIA and the seven made treys per game places them 14th in the country. The Griffins are seventh in the NAIA in free throw percentage (.732), 16th in assists per game (15.72) and fifth in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.13).

Defensively the Griffins are stellar this season. They rank second in the NAIA in scoring defense as they allow just 48.89 points per contest. Teams are shooting just 35.3 percent from the floor against the Griffins and 29.3 percent from beyond the arc. Westminster limits the opposition to 31.06 rebounds per game to place fifth in the country and they lead the Frontier with a 2.5 turnover margin.

Against the Opposition
Westminster is 1-0 all-time against Dickinson State. The two teams met on Dec. 29, 2007 in Las Vegas. The Griffins won the game 71-60 behind five players in double figures.

Carroll holds a 17-15 lead in the all-time series with the Griffins. Westminster swept three games with Carroll last season, including a 58-46 win in the semi-finals of the Frontier Conference Tournament.

Getting Defensive
The Griffins are having one of the best defensive seasons in school history. They rank in the NAIA top-20 in scoring defense (48.89), field goal defense (35.3 percent), 3-point field goal defense (29.3 percent) and rebound defense (31.06). Those present totals would establish a new school record in each category. Westminster has held seven straight opponents below 50 points and four of them to 40 or less.

Triple Threat
Senior Nicole Yazzie is proving to be one of the best all-around players in the country. The senior currently averages 12.7 points per game and she ranks 44th in the NAIA with 33 made treys. Yazzie is 13th nationally at 5.22 assists per game and also ranks ninth in the Frontier with 30 steals. She has scored in double figures in 14 games this season and led the team in scoring on six occasions.

Climbing the Charts
Yazzie continues to climb the charts in the Westminster career record book. She currently ranks in the top 10 in 12 statistical categories and is one of just six players to score 1,000 career points. Yazzie currently ranks fifth in school history with 1,505 points and her 253 career threes is most all-time. She is second all-time with 475 assists and third in steals with 180.

Tidbits on Tibbitts
Cydney Tibbitts is the team's leading scorer at 13.1 points per game. She is eighth in the Frontier in scoring and is shooting 43.8 percent from the field. The senior grabs a team-high 8.22 rebounds per game to rank third in the Frontier and her 5.72 defensive rebounds per game leads the conference. Tibbitts is 19th in the NAIA in free throw percentage at 81.4 percent and she leads the Griffins with 16 blocked shots. She grabs 14.3 percent of all available rebounds while on the floor and 19.6 percent on the defensive end.

Wells-come Addition
Kelsi Wells is third on the team in scoring at 10.6 points per game while shooting a team-best 51.4 percent from the floor. The junior makes 48.9 percent of her attempts from beyond the arc while also pulling down 4.4 rebounds per game. Wells is averaging 12 points per game in league games and shooting 54.5 percent in those contests. She has a true shooting percentage of 61.9 percent and is coming off 19 points in the win over MSU-Northern on Saturday.

Tia-rrific
Tia Pappas has been a spark off the Griffin bench this season. The sophomore scores 7.5 points in 23.2 minutes per game and shoots 43.9 percent from the floor. Pappas is second on the team with 108 rebounds and her 2.56 offensive rebounds per game in fifth in the Frontier. She is second in the league and 41st in the NAIA at 2.28 steals per game and she is 32nd nationally with 41 total steals.

Approaching 1,000
Allie Eastman is averaging 7.9 points per game this season and has scored 900 points in her career. She needs to average 9.1 points per game over the remaining 11 games on the schedule to become to seventh player in school history to score 1,000 career points. She has reached double figures in seven games this season and had 25 points in the two games last week. Eastman also ranks in the Westminster career top 10 in field goals made, 3-point field goals made, assists, steals and blocked shots.

Making the Freebies
Westminster is one of the premier free throw shooting teams in the NAIA. The Griffins are shooting 73.2 percent at the stripe to lead the Frontier and rank seventh in the country. Both Tibbitts (81.4 percent) and Yazzie (80.4 percent) place in the NAIA top 25 in foul shooting. Westminster is even better in clutch situation as they make 81.1 percent of their attempts in the final five minutes (and all of overtime) of a game within 10 points.

Looking Ahead
Westminster heads to Billings, Mont. for a game against Rocky Mountain (Mont.) on Jan. 26. The only game of the week for the Griffins begins at 5:30 p.m. in the Fortin Center and is the first of back-to-back games against Rocky.