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Kelsi Wells
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Women's Basketball

Griffins on the Road for Final Two Games of Regular Season

Kelsi Wells
Complete Release | PDF

SALT LAKE CITY – The No. 3 Westminster College women's basketball team looks for a perfect Frontier Conference season with a pair of road games this week. Westminster plays at No. 16 Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) on Thurs. at 6:30 p.m. MST to start the week. The Griffins will then play at Montana Tech on Sat. at 5:30 p.m. MST to complete the regular season.

FOLLOW THE ACTION
Both road games this week will be streamed live on the web. The Lewis-Clark State game is best viewed on Internet Explorer browsers. Saturday's game at Montana Tech is available on a pay-per-view for $7. Live stats will also be available for both of the games. Links for all of the live features are available by clicking here.

GRIFFIN NOTES
Westminster begins the final road trip of the regular season at 20-2 on the season and a perfect 14-0 in league games. They have already secured a sixth-straight Frontier Conference regular season championship and a sweep this week would give the team its second perfect league season in school history.

The Griffins are averaging 70.32 points per game this season and they lead the Frontier Conference by shooting 46.9 percent from the field. They continue to lead the NAIA in 3-point shooting by connecting on 41.7 percent from beyond the arc while make an average of 7.91 threes per game to place 10th in the NAIA. Westminster distributes 16.54 assists per game – ninth in the NAIA – and they rank second with a 1.42 assist-to-turnover ratio.

The Griffins have been stellar at the defensive end all season as they hold the opposition to 53.14 points per game. They place second in the country in scoring defense which helps them rank 11th in scoring margin at 17.18 points per game.  Westminster is second in the country by allowing the opposition just 29.50 rebounds per game and they force 16.45 turnovers per contest.

Alli Blake is the team's top scorer at 14.18 points per game and she is fifth in the NAIA by shooting 55.6 percent. Blake also leads the squad with 96 assists and her 4.36 assists per game average ranks 23rd in the country. Tia Pappas averages 11.05 points and ranks 18th in the NAIA at 2.65 steals per game. Shelby Ellsworth is scoring 10.65 points while leading the team by grabbing 5.64 rebounds per contest.

SIX STRAIGHT TITLES
With its win over Montana State-Northern last Saturday, Westminster clinched a sixth-straight Frontier Conference regular season title. The Griffins have won the title every year since the 2008-09 season and all three years under head coach Shelley Jarrard. The regular season title means the Griffins will host a Frontier Conference Tournament semi-final game on March 8 at 7 p.m. MST. With a win in that semi-final, Westminster would then host the championship game at 7 p.m. MST on March 11.

FRONTIER DOMINANCE
Going back to the start of the 2008-09 season, Westminster has dominated the Frontier Conference to the tune of an 80-5 (.941) mark. They have won six straight regular season titles and have only dropped more than one league game in a season one time. During that span, only Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) at 59-25 (.702) and Montana State-Northern at 44-42 (.512) have winning records in Frontier action. The Griffins have won 23 straight home conference games, going undefeated at home in league play for three-straight seasons.

NATIONAL RANKING
Westminster received a season-high with 236 points to hold at No. 3 in the eighth regular season edition of the NAIA Coaches' Top 25 Poll that was released on Tuesday. This is the fifth straight week that the Griffins have been ranked No. 3 and matches the highest they have ever been ranked. The Griffins have now been ranked in the Top 25 for a school-record 32 consecutive polls dating back to Dec. 12, 2011. They have also spent the last 21 polls inside the top five, which is the longest active streak in the country.

BOMBS AWAY
Westminster continues its hot shooting from beyond the arc this season. The Griffins rank 10th in the NAIA by making 7.91 triples per contest and they lead the country by shooting 41.7 percent from beyond the arc. They have recorded at least five threes in all but two games this season with a season-high 12 threes on three separate occasions.

Westminster has the top two long range shooters in the NAIA in Alli Winters and Amy Krommenhoek. Winters makes 56.7 percent from beyond the arc with Krommenhoek connecting on 49.0 percent of her attempts. Winters averages 2.32 threes per game to place 28th in the NAIA with Krommenhoek sitting 36th by averaging 2.23 treys per game.

BALL CONTROL
While the Griffins are third in the Frontier by scoring 70.32 points per game, they are efficient with the basketball. Westminster is averaging 111.5 points per 100 possessions while posting 16.54 assists per game to place ninth in the NAIA. They rank second in the country with a 1.42 assist-to-turnover ratio and second by holding the opposition to 53.14 points per night. Griffin opponents are scoring 84.2 points per 100 possessions and are committing 16.45 turnovers per game.

ON THE DEFENSIVE
Westminster is one of the top defensive teams in the NAIA and they place second in the nation by holding the opposition to 53.14 points per game. The Griffins have kept the opposition under 60 points on 16 occasions this season and 10 times held them under 50 points. During their current 13-game winning streak, Westminster is giving up just 47.8 points per game with only one team reaching the 60-point plateau. The Griffins also take advantage of their defense by scoring 18.6 points off turnovers per game. That total accounts for 26.4 percent of the team's total offensive output for a game.

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 14.18 points per game to place fifth in the Frontier. Blake has been named the Frontier Conference Player of the Week three times this season, including last week. She is fifth in the NAIA by shooting 55.6 percent from the floor and 23rd by handing out 4.36 assist per game. Blake assists on 28.2 percent of all Westminster field goals while she is on the floor.

PAPPAS ALL OVER THE PLACE
Tia Pappas continues to wreak havoc on the opposition as the junior is scoring 11.05 points per game. The scrappy defender is second in the Frontier and 18th in the NAIA by grabbing 2.64 steals per contest. Her 58 total steals place 24th in the country and ninth in school history. Pappas also shoots 74.3 percent at the foul line and collects 5.46 rebounds per game – including 2.64 on the offensive end – with one double-double.

LOOKING AHEAD
Westminster will return to action on March 8 when they host a Frontier Conference Tournament semi-final game at the Behnken Field House. The Griffins will host the lowest remaining seed after the quarterfinals are completed on March 1.
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