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SALT LAKE CITY – The fourth-ranked Westminster College women's basketball team will turn the calendar to 2014 and enter Frontier Conference play full on. Westminster opens this week at 16th-ranked Carroll (Mont.) on Thursday before returning to the Behnken Field House to face Montana Tech on Saturday. Both games will begin at 5:30 p.m. MST.

FOLLOW THE ACTION
Thursday's game will be streamed live on the web and have live stats available. Saturday's game will be carried live on Griffins TV and Comcast 6 in northern Utah with Mike Lageschulte handling the play-by-play and Lance Barton serving as the analyst. Live stats will also be available for the home game. Links for all of the features can be found by clicking here.

GRIFFIN NOTES
The Griffins enter full-time conference play at 7-2 on the season and 1-0 in the league. They split a pair of games at the Jersey Mike's Classic over the weekend, defeating Hope International (Calif.) before falling to 12th-ranked The Master's (Calif.). Westminster is 3-2 in road games this season and a perfect 3-0 at home.

Westminster is scoring 69.89 points per game while ranking seventh in the NAIA by shooting 45.1 percent from the floor. They lead the nation in 3-point field goal percentage by making 41.8 percent of their attempts from deep. The Griffins rank sixth in the country with an average of 8.78 treys per game and they place 18th by recording 16 assists per night. The team has a 1.24 assist-to-turnover ratio which in currently fifth-best in the NAIA.

On the defensive end Westminster is allowing 60.78 points per game and they rank 25th in the nation in that department. Griffin opponents shoot 40.2 percent from the field and 32.5 percent from beyond the arc. Westminster limits the opposition to 32.44 rebounds per game to rank sixth nationally. They are forcing 15.78 turnovers per game with an average of 7.78 steals per contest.

Alli Blake currently leads the team in scoring at 13.67 points per game with Shelby Ellsworth chipping in 12.44 points per night. Blake also leads the team with 41 assists while Tia Pappas is tops on the squad with 57 rebounds and 16 steals. Alli Winters, Amy Krommenhoek and Kelsi Wells are all averaging at least 9.1 points per game.

NATIONAL RANKING
Westminster received 224 points and moved up to No. 4 in the first regular season coaches' poll of the season that was announced on Dec. 10. The Griffins have now been ranked in the top 25 for 25 consecutive polls dating back to Dec. 12, 2011. They have also spent the last 14 polls inside the top five which is the longest active streak in the country.

BOMBS AWAY
Westminster enters the new year as the top 3-point shooting team in the country by making 41.8 percent from beyond the arc. The Griffins make 8.78 threes per game to place sixth in the country and they have made at least eight treys in all but one game this season. They have shot above 40 percent from long range six times and twice been above 50 percent.

Alli Winters is the top 3-point shooter in the NAIA as the junior makes 64.9 percent of her long range attempts. She is 16th in the country by making 2.67 triples per outing and she is 14-of-19 (73.7%) from beyond the arc in the last four games while making multiple triples in a game six times. Kelsi Wells shoots 45.7 percent from deep to place 18th while Amy Krommenhoek is 20th at 45.5 percent. Krommehoek is also 35th in the country with an average of 2.22 made threes per game.

FRONTIER DOMINANCE
Westminster has dominated the Frontier Conference over the past five seasons as they have claimed five straight regular season titles. During that span the Griffins have gone 66-5 and only one time dropped more than one league game. The .930 winning percentage in a huge contrast from the .427 winning percentage over the first nine years in the conference. The Griffins have won 15 straight home conference games, going undefeated at home in two straight seasons.

THE BLAKE SHOW
Senior Alli Blake has been doing a little bit of everything for the Griffins this season. She currently leads the team in scoring at 13.7 points per game to place seventh in the Frontier. Blake was named the Frontier Conference Player of the Week after averaging 20.5 points and 8.5 rebounds per game over the weekend. After scoring a then season-high 19 points against Hope International, Blake reset the high with 22 points against The Master's. She

Blake is 20th in the NAIA by shooting 50 percent from the floor and handing out 4.56 assist per game. She has led the team in assists in four games while twice going for at least seven assists. Blake is averaging 4.8 rebounds per night with 23 of her 43 total rebounds coming on the offensive end.

WELCOME BACK ELLSWORTH
Sophomore Shelby Ellsworth returns after sitting out last season with a knee injury. Ellsworth posted the first 20-20 game in school history when she had 23 points and 20 rebounds in a game versus Cal Maritime in 2010. This season, Ellsworth is second on the team in scoring at 12.4 points per game and she has been in double figures on seven occasions. She has led the team in rebounding in three games as she collects 6.1 rebounds per contest.

A WINTERS WONDERLAND
Alli Winters has got her Westminster career of to a blazing start. The long range specialist leads the NAIA in 3-point field goal percentage at 64.9 percent. The junior is averaging 9.7 points per game thanks to making 2.67 threes per night to rank 16th in the country. Winters has scored in double figures five times, including in three of the past four games, and she had a career-high 20 points in the win at Montana Western on Dec. 7.

LOOKING AHEAD
It is back to the road next week with a game at Great Falls (Mont.) on Dec. 10 before playing at Montana State-Northern on Dec. 11.