GREAT FALLS, Mont. – The No. 4 Westminster women's basketball team trailed by four with just over four minutes remaining before storming back to take a 53-49 win at No. 22 Great Falls (Mont.) on Friday night in Frontier Conference action.
 
Westminster (13-2, 3-1 Frontier) had led for most of the night, including a 10-point advantage midway through the first half. Great Falls (16-4, 3-2) cut the deficit to 27-25 by halftime by holding the Griffins to just nine points over the final 10 minutes of the half.
 
After the home squad tied the game for the first time at 31-31 with 14:33 remaining in the second half, Westminster got five straight points from Amy Krommenhoek to spark a 7-0 run. Amanda Hacking finished down low with 6:54 to play that had the Griffins in front 44-38. That is when Great Falls mounted a 10-0 spurt that featured threes from Nneka Nnandi and Stephanie McDonagh.
 
Erin Legel – the Frontier's leading scorer at 19.9 points per game – scored just her second basket of the game at the 4:29 mark to cap the run. Trailing by three with under two minutes to play, Tia Pappas scored four straight points and then after getting a stop on the defensive end, Krommenhoek sank two free throws to put the Griffins in front, 52-49, with 18 seconds to play. Legel missed a three on the next UGF possession and Hacking pulled the rebound and made one of two free throws to seal the Griffins 23rd straight win over Great Falls.
 
Krommenhoek finished the game with 19 points – her most since scoring 20 in the first game of the season. She made 4-of-11 field goal attempts, but went 9-of-10 at the foul line with a pair of triples. The senior also recorded five assists and zero turnovers.
 
Westminster finished the game shooting 35.8 percent from the floor and just 3-of-15 (20 percent) from beyond the arc. They held UGF to just 35 percent shooting and only 4-of-17 (23.5 percent) from three. Westminster held a 36-29 edge on the boards with 12 offensive rebounds and 19 points from 15 UGF turnovers.
 
Pappas added 13 points for the Griffins and she grabbed a team-high eight rebounds. It was her fifth straight game scoring in double figures. Shelby Ellsworth scored six points and Hacking went for five points and seven rebounds.
 
Nnadi led Great Falls with 14 points off the bench. McDonagh finished with 12 points while Legel and Lindsey Abramson combined for 11 points, 22 below their season average.
 
The Griffins will now head to Havre, Mont. for a second straight road game against a ranked opponent on Saturday. This time it will be a top-10 showdown at No. 10 Montana State-Northern at 6 p.m. MT from Armory Gymnasium.