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SALT LAKE CITY – The fifth-ranked Westminster College women's basketball team opens Frontier Conference play on Sat. when they travel to Dillon, Mont. to face Montana Western. The Griffins only game of the week will tip at 2 p.m. MST from Straugh Gymnasium on the Montana Western campus.

FOLLOW THE ACTION
Saturday's game will be streamed live on the web with Wally Feldt providing the play-by-play on the UMW broadcast. Live stats are also going to be available during the game. Links for all live features can be found by clicking here.

GRIFFIN NOTES
The Griffins, who are ranked fifth in the NAIA Preseason Coaches' Top 25, have gone 4-1 to begin the season. They are 1-1 in road games thus far, winning at Biola (Calif.) and losing at No. 1 Vanguard (Calif.) in their last action.

Westminster is scoring 68.2 points per game and shooting 44.8 percent from the floor. They are second in the Frontier and 10th in the NAIA in field goal percentage and they place third in the country by shooting 43.6 percent from beyond the arc. With an average of 17.2 assists per game, the Griffins place 14th in the nation and they have a 1.83 assist-to-turnover ratio to rank second in the NAIA.

Defensively, Westminster is allowing 57 points per game and they limit opponents to 38.2 percent shooting. Those numbers place the Griffins seventh and 50th in the NAIA respectively. The Griffins are forcing 15.2 turnovers per game with an average of 7.0 steals per night to score 20.6 points per game from opponent miscues.

Four players are scoring in double figures for the Griffins this season. Amy Krommenhoek is the team's top scorer at 12.2 points per game while Shelby Ellsworth is posting 11.8 points per outing. Tia Pappas is the team's top rebounder at 6.0 boards per night and she also has a team-best nine steals. Alli Blake leads with 25 assists.

NATIONAL RANKING
Westminster received 222 points and will start the season with a No. 5 national ranking after the national office released the NAIA Division I Women's Basketball Preseason Coaches' Top 25 Poll on Tuesday. The Griffins pent all of last season ranked inside the top 10 and they have now been ranked in the top 25 for 24 consecutive polls dating back to Dec. 12, 2011.

KEEP AWAY AND SHARING THE ROCK
Westminster is second in the NAIA with a 1.83 assist-to-turnover ratio through the first five games of the season. As a team, the Griffins are recording 17.2 assists per night while only committing 9.4 turns. They have totaled more assists than turnovers in each of the past four games with at least 15 assists in four of the five games.

Five Griffins are currently ranked in the top 21 of the NAIA in assist-to-turnover ratio, including Alli Winters 4.33 that places third. Shelby Ellsworth is ninth at 3.50 with Amy Krommenhoek 13th at 3.00. Westminster also has Alli Blake (2.78) in 19th and Katie Walker (2.67) in 21st.

TAKING AWAY THE ROCK
The Griffins are forcing 15.2 turnovers per game through five games and hold a positive 5.8 turnover margin to rank 12th in the country. They record seven steals per contest and are scoring 20.6 points per game from those turnovers. That accounts for 30.2 percent of all of the Griffins points in a game.

BENCH PRODUCTION FROM KROMMENHOEK
Amy Krommenhoek has come off the bench in all five games this season, but the junior leads the team in scoring at 12.2 points per game. She is coming off a career high 20 points in the loss at Vanguard where she went 6-of-9 from the floor and 5-of-8 from beyond the arc. For the season, Krommenhoek is averaging a Frontier-best 3.0 treys per game while shooting 57.7 percent from deep to place fifth in the NAIA. She has scored in double figures in four of the five games and made multiple threes in every game.

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 11.8 points per game while scoring in double figures on four occasions. She has collected 21 rebounds and shoots 40 percent from the floor.

WELLS A SCORING THREAT
Kelsi Wells is scoring 11.2 points per game and has been the team's leading scorer a team-best two times. The senior was name Preseason All-Frontier Conference after scoring 10.3 points per game in league games last season. Wells had back-to-back 17-point performances against College of Idaho and Biola earlier this month for her only two double-digit scoring games of the season. She is second on the team with 23 rebounds, including a team-best 19 on the defensive end of the floor.

THE BLAKE SHOW
Senior Alli Blake has been doing a little bit of everything for the Griffins this season. She is currently scoring 10.2 points per game while shooting 48.9 percent from the field. Blake leads the squad with 25 assists and ranks 18th in the NAIA by posting 5.0 assist per game. She has also collected 16 rebounds (10 offensive) with three steals and two blocked shots.

FOLLOWING THE GRIFFINS
To keep up with all of the latest news and information about the Westminster women's basketball team, fans are encouraged to "Like" the Griffins on Facebook and follow them on Twitter. And as always, make sure to visit WestminsterGriffins.com for all things Griffins during the 2013 season.

LOOKING AHEAD
It's another one game week for the Griffins as they travel to Caldwell, Idaho looking for a season sweep of College of Idaho on Dec. 14. The game from the J.A. Albertson Center will tip at 2 p.m. MST.