SALT LAKE CITY – The No. 4 Westminster women's basketball team will return to action this week as they open up Frontier Conference play with a pair of home games. Their first game since Dec. 20 comes on Thursday against No. 24 Carrol (Mont.) College. The Griffins then welcome Rocky Mountain (Mont.) College to the Behnken Field House on Saturday. Both games will begin at 5:30 p.m. MT.
 
On the Web: Both games this week will be carried live on Griffins TV with Mike Lageschulte (play-by-play) and Lance Barton (analyst) calling the action. Griffins TV is available online and on mobile devices and Roku players through the Livestream app. There will also be live stats available for all of the games with links for all of the live features available on the Westminster athletics web site.
 
Griffin Fast Break: Westminster finished the non-conference season at 10-1 and they set a new school record by opening the season with nine straight wins. They are No. 4 in the NAIA Coaches' Poll that was released on Tuesday and were picked by the Frontier coaches as the favorite to win the league this season. Three of their 10 wins this season have come against teams ranked in the top 25 at the time of the game.
 
Offense Notebook: The Griffins are scoring 66.36 points per game on the season and that improves to 72.25 in home games. They rank seventh in the NAIA by shooting 45.4 percent from the field and 37.7 percent from beyond the arc. The team is averaging 7.36 threes per game and recording 16.64 assists per night to rank 14th in the country. They are fifth nationally with a 1.28 assist-to-turnover ratio.
 
Defense Notebook: Westminster is second in the country by holding the opposition to 47.64 points per game while sitting 11th by limiting opponents to 34.3 percent shooting. The Griffins have held seven opponents below 50 points this season and two below 40. They allow just 29.82 rebounds per game while forcing 16.55 turnovers per outing by getting 8.0 steals per night.
 
Leaders: Tia Pappas leads four Griffins that average in double figures at 13.18 points per game. Amy Krommenhoek scores 12.5 per night while leading the team with 66 assists and 29 steals. Alli Winters scores 10.2 per game and Amanda Hacking gets 10 points and a team-best 8.2 rebounds per contest.
 
Looking Back: Westminster finished 2-1 at the Frontier Conference Las Vegas Shootout on Dec. 18-20. They picked up wins over Hope International (Calif.) and then-No. 3 Vanguard (Calif.) while falling to then-No. 5 Campbellsville (Ky.). Pappas had a double-double of 15 points and 11 rebounds against Hope International and Hacking went for 20 and 11 against Vanguard.
 
In the Polls: Westminster remained at No. 4 on when the NAIA released the second regular-season edition of the NAIA Division I Women's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 Poll that was released on Tuesday. Westminster held their position from the poll that was released on Dec. 9. The Griffins received 226 points to sit in the top-five of the NAIA poll for the 28th straight poll. They have now been ranked is 39 straight polls and 84 polls all-time. The next regular season poll will be released on Jan. 13.
 
Conference Dominance: The Griffins have been the team to beat in the Frontier Conference over the past six seasons. Since the start of the 2008-09 season, Westminster has gone 82-5 in league games and won six straight conference titles. They have twice gone undefeated in league play, including a 16-0 mark last season. The 82 conference wins during that span is 22 more than the 60 posted by the next highest team during the stretch, Lewis-Clark State.
 
Home Dominance: Since the start of the 2012-13 season, Westminster has compiled a 29-1 mark in the Behnken Field House. The .967 winning percentage during that time is the best three-year home mark in school history. They have won a school-record 29 straight home games since losing to The Master's College (Calif.) in the 2012-13 season opener.
 
Love the Long Ball: Westminster has attempted 215 3-point field goals this season which accounts for 37.3 percent of their total shots taken. They are 13th in the NAIA by making 7.36 per game and they sit seventh at 37.7 percent from distance. They have made at least six treys in nine of the 11 games this season while hitting for double-digit threes on three occasions, including a season-high 13 against Eastern Oregon on Nov. 29.
 
Getting Defensive: Westminster has established as one of the top defensive teams in the country over the past three-plus seasons. This season, the Griffins are second in the nation by allowing just 47.64 points per game and they have held seven of the 11 opponents to 46 points or less. The opposition shoots 34.3 percent from the floor and 27.3 percent from three to rank Westminster 11th and 20th respectively in those categories.
 
Sharing the Rock: This year's team has been sharing the basketball and they currently sit 14th in the NAIA by averaging 16.64 assists per game. That average would rank fifth in school history and is the highest assist average since the 2009-10 campaign. The Griffins have recorded an assists on 69.8 percent of their total field goals this season. Krommenhoek leads the team and ranks fifth in the country at 6.0 assists per game.
 
Inside the Metrics: Westminster enters the weekend averaging 66.36 points per game, but their offensive efficiency has the Griffins averaging 106.6 points per 100 possessions. They are currently averaging 62 possessions per game. At the defensive end, Westminster opponents average 76.5 points per 100 possessions.
 
Pappas for Player of the Year: The Frontier coaches selected Westminster senior Tia Pappas as the Preseason Player of the Year in the conference and she isn't disappointing. Pappas is currently ranked in the Frontier top-20 in 14 statistical categories and she is eighth in the conference by scoring 13.18 points per game. She ranks 38th in the NAIA by notching 4.00 assists per game and her 78.4 percent at the foul line is 41st in the country.
 
Krommenhoek a Starter: After being named the Frontier Conference Sixth-Player of the Year last season, Amy Krommenhoek has moved into the starting lineup this season. The senior is scoring 12.46 points per game on the year and she is fifth in the country by handing out 6.0 assists per game. Krommenhoek makes 36.8 percent from three and she is 20th in the NAIA by making 2.55 treys per game. She had a career-high 10 assists for her first career double-double in the win at Hope International on Nov. 21 and her 3.30 assist-to-turnover ratio ranks seventh in the NAIA.
 
Winters from Deep: After leading the NAIA in 3-point field goal percentage last season at 52.5 percent, Winters has continued that hot shooting this season. The senior is shooting 50.9 percent from three on the year to rank third in the NAIA and she averages 2.64 made threes per outing to sit 17th nationally. Winters scored 10.2 points per game during the non-conference season while distributing 2.73 assists. She is the Westminster all-time leader in 3-point field goal percentage by making 52 percent from deep over the past two seasons.
 
Hacking the Glass: Hacking has been a force on the boards this season. She currently leads the team with 90 rebounds and ranks 27th in the nation with an average of 8.18 rebounds per game. Hacking grabs 5.36 rebounds per game on the defensive end – 30th in the nation – and she is scoring 10 points per game. The junior has grabbed double-digit rebounds five times this season and she has posted three double-doubles.
 
Climbing the Charts: Pappas is marching up the Westminster career charts in her senior season and she has moved into eighth place all-time at Westminster with 855 career points. She needs to average 9.67 points per game over the remaining scheduled games to reach 1,000. Pappas also sits sixth with 440 career rebounds and fourth with 188 steals. Krommenhoek ranks eighth all-time with 121 made threes and she is 11th with 187 assists. Winters is 11th in the rankings with 93 triples.
 
Looking Ahead: Westminster will spend the next three games on the road with the first coming at Montana Western on Jan. 17. The action from Straugh Gymnasium in Dillon, Mont. will tip at 2 p.m. MT.