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SALT LAKE CITY – The Westminster College women's basketball team received a No. 1 seed in the top-left quadrant of the 2014 NAIA Division I Women's Basketball National Championship and they will face William Woods (Mo.) in a first round game on Thurs. at 12:15 p.m. MDT. All 31 games of the National Championship will be played at the Frankfort Convention Center in Frankfort, Ky.

FOLLOW THE ACTION
Thursday's game will be streamed live on the web by the NAIA through the streaming partner, NeuLion. The cost to view the game is $9.95 per day or $24.95 for the entre tournament. Live stats will also be available during the tournament.

VIEWING PARTY
Fans are encouraged to come watch the game in the Shaw Student Center on the Westminster campus. Westminster will show the game on the big screen.

GRIFFIN NOTES
Westminster will enter the National Championship at 24-2 overall this season and riding a 17-game winning streak. That is tied for the longest winning streak in school history. The Griffins went 16-0 during Frontier Conference play and they won the regular season and tournament titles for a second-straight season.

The Griffins are averaging 70.08 points per game this season and they lead the Frontier Conference by shooting 46.5 percent from the field. They lead the NAIA in 3-point shooting by connecting on 40 percent from beyond the arc while making an average of 7.54 threes per game to place 12th in the NAIA. Westminster distributes 16.31 assists per game – 12th in the NAIA – and they rank second with a 1.43 assist-to-turnover ratio.

The Griffins have been stellar at the defensive end all season as they hold the opposition to 53.54 points per game. They place second in the country in scoring defense which helps them rank 11th in scoring margin at 16.54 points per game.  Westminster leads the country by allowing the opposition just 29.15 rebounds per game and they force 16 turnovers per contest.

Alli Blake is the team's top scorer at 15.23 points per game and she is third in the NAIA by shooting 56.1 percent. Blake also leads the squad with 117 assists and her 4.50 assists per game average ranks 18th in the country. Tia Pappas averages 11.23 points and ranks 20th in the NAIA at 2.46 steals per game. Shelby Ellsworth is scoring 10.65 points while leading the team by grabbing 5.58 rebounds per contest.

GRIFFINS AT NAIA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
This is the eighth-straight trip to the NAIA National Champions for the Griffins dating back to their first trip in 2007. They have compiled an 8-7 record in those seven previous trips with two trips to the quarterfinals, including last season. Westminster is 6-1 all-time in first round game and they have won five-straight opening games at the National Championship.

Westminster and William Woods met in the second round of the 2011 NAIA National Championship. That was a 49-40 win by the Griffins that advanced them to their first trip to the quarterfinals. That is also the only other meeting between the two teams.

SIX STRAIGHT TITLES
With a perfect 16-0 conference season, Westminster won its sixth-straight regular season Frontier Conference championship. Going back to the start of the 2008-09 season, Westminster has dominated the Frontier Conference to the tune of an 82-5 (.943) mark and they have only dropped more than one league game in a season one time. This was the second time the Griffins had gone undefeated in league games, matching the 14-0 mark during the 2008-09 campaign.

BOMBS AWAY
Westminster is one of the premier 3-point shooting team in the NAIA. The Griffins rank 12th in the country by making 7.54 triples per contest and they lead the country by shooting 40percent from beyond the arc. They have recorded at least five threes in all but four games this season with a season-high 12 on three separate occasions.

Westminster has the top two long range shooters in the NAIA in Alli Winters and Amy Krommenhoek. Winters makes 52.8 percent from beyond the arc to lead the nation with Krommenhoek connecting on 47.2 percent of her attempts to place second. Krommenhoek is averaging 2.23 treys per game with Winters averaging 2.15.

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 53.54 points per game. The Griffins have kept the opposition under 60 points on 19 occasions this season and 11 times held them under 50 points. During their current 17-game winning streak, Westminster is giving up just 49.7 points per game with only two teams reaching the 60-point plateau. The Griffins also take advantage of their defense by scoring 18.6 points off turnovers per game.

THE BLAKE SHOW
Senior Alli Blake was named the Frontier Conference Player of the Year, becoming the fifth player in school history to win the award. She is averaging 15.2 points per game this season with 20 games in double figures and seven 20-point games. She ranks fourth in the conference in scoring while leading the league and placing third in the country by shooting 56.1 percent from the floor.

Blake also leads the team with 117 assists and she is 18th in the NAIA by handing out 4.5 assists per game. She collects 5.3 rebounds per night and shoots 80.1 percent from the foul line – sixth in the league. Blake gives the Griffins repeat player of the year honors after Nicole Yazzie won in 2013 and they have now had the league's top player four times since 2009.

PAPPAS TAKES DEFENSIVE HONOR
Tia Pappas was honored as the Frontier's Defensive Player of the Year. The 5-foot-7 junior from Price, Utah, is second in the conference in steals at 2.46 per game which also ranks 20th in the NAIA. Her 64 total steals ranks seventh in school history for a single season and are 33rd in the NAIA this season. Pappas also grabs 2.85 defensive rebounds per game and has seven blocked shots. She joins McKenzie Jessop (2010) and Cydney Tibbitts (2013) as the only Griffins to win the award.

KROMMENHOEK NAMED TOP RESERVE
Amy Krommenhoek was selected as the Frontier Sixth-Player of the Year, joining Pappas (2013) as the only Griffins to win the award. The 5-foot-7 junior from American Fork, Utah, has played in all 26 games off the bench this season and is averaging 9.6 points per game. She is third in the NAIA by shooting 47.2 percent from beyond the arc and she is 30th in the nation by averaging 2.23 treys per game. Krommenhoek has scored in double figures 10 times this season and twice reach the 20-point mark.

LOOKING AHEAD
The winner of Thursday's game between Westminster and William Woods will advance to a second round game on Friday at 4:15 p.m. The opponent in the game will come from the first round game between MidAmerica Narazene (Kan.) and Hope International (Calif.).