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SALT LAKE CITY – The fifth-ranked Westminster College women's basketball team opens the Frontier Conference Tournament on Friday when they host Montana Western in a semi-final game. The top-seeded Griffins earned a bye into the semis while the sixth-seeded Bulldogs upset the No. 3 seed Montana Tech on Tuesday night. Friday's game in the Behnken Field House will tipoff at 7 p.m.

Game Coverage
Friday's semi-final will be carried live on the web on Griffins TV and in Utah on Comcast 6 with Mike Lageschulte (play-by-play) and Lance Barton (analyst). The broadcast will begin with the pregame show at 6:50 p.m. and feature an interview with Griffins coach Shelley Jarrard. Live stats will also be available for the game with links for Griffins TV and live stats available in the calendar section of WestminsterGriffins.com.

Frontier Conference Tournament
The 2013 Frontier Conference Tournament began on Tuesday with two quarterfinal games. Along with Montana Western pulling the 55-46 upset at Montana Tech, the No. 4 seed Montana State-Northern defeated No. 5 seed Rocky Mountain (Mont.), 76-57. Friday's other semi-final game features MSU-Northern at the No. 2 seed Carroll in Helena, Mont. at 7 p.m. Complete tournament coverage is available online at WestminsterGriffins.com/playoffs.

Griffin Notebook
Westminster begins the postseason after going 25-3 during the regular season. They won a fifth-straight Frontier Conference championship with a 14-1 mark in league play. The Griffins split the final two games of the season last week, falling at Carroll last Thursday before defeating Montana Tech in the season finals on Saturday.

The Griffins have gone 10-1 at home this season, including a current 10-game home winning streak. They were a perfect 8-0 at home in league play and are winners if 15 straight Frontier Conference home games dating back to last season. Westminster averaged 70.8 points per game in the Behnken Field House during the year while holding the opposition to 45.8 points per game.

Westminster is scoring 64.86 points per game to rank second in the Frontier Conference. They are first in the league in field goal percentage (43.6%), free throw percentage (73.9%) and place second in 3-point field goal percentage (34.2%). Westminster makes a Frontier-best 6.39 treys per game and ranks first in assists per game at 16.18 and assist-to-turnover ratio, 1.24, which is third in the NAIA.

On the defensive end, Westminster holds the opposition to 46.68 points per game and just 34 percent shooting. The Griffins rank second in the country in scoring defense and eighth in field goal defense. They allow just 30.43 rebounds per game to the opposition, second in the country, while also forcing 17.14 turnovers per outing. The Griffins record 9.86 steals per game to lead the Frontier and they rank 16th in the NAIA with a 3.86 turnover margin.

Against the Opposition
Despite sweeping the two games with Montana Western this season, Westminster still trails the overall series 15-14. The Griffins won the game in Salt Lake City, 73-35, on Dec. 1, before taking a 45-28 win in Dillon on Feb. 2. Westminster has won 12 straight games over UMW and seven straight at home.

Friday will mark just the second meeting between the Griffins and Bulldogs in the Frontier Conference Tournament. Westminster claimed an 85-55 win in the semi-finals of the 2009 tournament in the Behnken Field House.

Postseason History
Westminster is 15-19 all-time in postseason play. They have a 9-13 record in the Frontier Conference Tournament and have never won the tournament title. The Griffins have played in the championship game in three of the last four seasons, losing at home to Lewis-Clark State each time. When playing at home in the conference tournament, Westminster has compiled a 7-4 record and is 3-1 in the semi-finals.

Frontier Dominance
Westminster claimed a fifth-straight Frontier Conference championship by finishing the year at 14-1 in league play. Under coach Jarrard the past two year, the Griffins have posted a 27-2 league record and they had won 22 straight games at one point. During this five-year run of titles, Westminster has gone 66-5 (.930) and only once they dropped two games during the same seson.

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 (46.68, 2nd), field goal defense (34%, 8th) and rebound defense (30.43, 2nd). Those present totals would establish a new school record in each category. Westminster has held 17 straight opponents to 53 points or less and six of them below 40 points. They established a new school record for fewest points allowed by holding Montana Western to 28 in a win on Feb. 9.

Offense Coming Around
When we rolled the calendar into 2013, Westminster was eighth in the Frontier in scoring at 61.29 points per game. In the 14 games played in 2013 the Griffins are scoring 68.4 points per game and they currently sit second in the league in scoring at 64.86 points per game. They only scored more than 70 points one time in the first 16 games of the year and they have now done that in eight of the last 12 games.

Streaking
Westminster had a 16-game winning streak snapped with the loss to Carroll last Thursday. That is the second-longest winning streak in school history behind a 17-game stretch set during the 2008-09 season. The loss also snapped a school-record 22-game winning streak in Frontier Conference play.

Six Straight Over 20
With their 83-45 win over Rocky Mountain (Mont.) on Jan. 31, Westminster reached the 20-win plateau for a sixth consecutive season. The first 20-win season in school history came during the 2006-07 season when they finished 22-12 and started this stretch of consecutive 20-win seasons. The Griffins set a school record with 28 wins during the 2010-11 season and also established the record with a .800 winning percentage. In the seven years prior to the 2006-07 campaign, Westminster had never won more than 16 games in a year.

Triple Threat
Senior Nicole Yazzie is proving to be one of the best all-around players in the country. The senior currently leads the team in scoring at 13.07 points per game and she is fourth in the Frontier with 51 made treys. Yazzie is 10th nationally at 5.18 assists per game and sits 19th in the NAIA with a 1.88 assist-to-turnover ratio. She has scored in double figures in 21 games this season and led the team in scoring on 11 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 1,643 points and her 271 career threes is most all-time. She is second all-time with 526 assists and third in steals with 203.

Tidbits on Tibbitts
Cydney Tibbitts is second on the team in scoring at 12.14 points per game. She is 11th in the Frontier in scoring and is shooting 45 percent from the field. The senior grabs a team-high 8.11 rebounds per game to rank fourth in the Frontier and her 5.71 defensive rebounds per game place second in the conference and 29th in the NAIA. Tibbitts is 18th in the NAIA in free throw percentage at 80.4 percent and she leads the Griffins with 22 blocked shots.

Wells-come Addition
Kelsi Wells is third on the team in scoring at 10.2 points per game while shooting a team-best 54.2 percent from the floor. The junior makes 48.5 percent of her attempts from beyond the arc while also pulling down 4.5 rebounds per game. Wells averaged 10.3 points per game in Frontier Conference play and shot 57.8 percent from the field in the 15 contests. Wells has scored in double figures 16 times this season while leading the team in scoring in five games.

Tia-rrific
Tia Pappas has been a spark off the Griffin bench this season. The sophomore scores 7.8 points in 22.9 minutes per game while shooting 44.1 percent from the floor. Pappas is third on the team with 148 rebounds and her 2.29 offensive rebounds per game rank eighth in the Frontier. She is second in the league and 41st in the NAIA at 2.25 steals per game and she is 39th nationally with 63 total steals. Pappas pulls down 12.3 percent of available offensive rebounds while she is on the floor and 13.9 percent of all rebounds.

Approaching 1,000
Allie Eastman is averaging 813 points per game this season and has scored 985 points in her career. With 15 more points, Eastman will become to seventh player in school history to score 1,000 career points. She has reached double figures in 11 games this season and has been the team's leading scorer in a game three times. Eastman also ranks in the Westminster career top 10 in field goals made, 3-point field goals made, assists, steals and blocked shots.

Checking the Polls
Westminster received 245 points in this week's NAIA Coaches' Top 25 Poll to slip two to No. 5. That is down two spots from the school-record No. 3 ranking the team held in last week's poll. The Griffins have been ranked in the top five in every poll this season and are one of just five teams that have spent the whole year ranked in the top 10.

Airing on Altitude
Westminster's games at Great Falls (Mont.) (Feb. 15) and Carroll (Feb. 21) were broadcast live in HD on the Altitude Sports Network. It marked the first time in school history that a Westminster game had been carried live in HD on a regional network. Altitude Sports is available within a 10-State territory of the Rocky Mountain Region including: Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Northern New Mexico, Northeast Nevada and Southwest South Dakota. Altitude can be found in Utah on Comcast channel 61, Dish Network channel 410 and DirecTV channel 681.

Looking Ahead
If the Griffins win on Friday they would then play host to the Frontier Conference Tournament championship game on Monday, March 4. The game will tip at 7 p.m. with the Griffins facing the winner of the MSU-Northern at Carroll game.