The Westminster women's basketball team begins a new season this weekend when they travel to Durango, Colo., to play two games at the Skyhawks Regional Challenge hosted by Fort Lewis College. Westminster begin the year against Fort Lewis on Friday at 5:30 p.m. before facing Adams State on Saturday at 1 p.m.
 
Both games the Griffins will play at the Skyhawks Regional Challenge will be held in Whalen Gymnasium.
 
Westminster will also play an exhibition game at Utah State on Monday at 7 p.m. in Logan, Utah.
 
COVERING THE GRIFFINS
Both of the Griffins games over the weekend will be broadcast live on Griffins TV through the Game Central portal available at portal.stretchinternet.com/westminster. This will be the home for all Westminster home games and road RMAC contests. This weekend's games will be produced by Fort Lewis College.
 
There will also be live stats available in the Game Central portal and at www.sidearmstats.com/fortlewis/wbball.
 
FOLLOWING WESTMINSTER VOLLEYBALL
Make sure to like Westminster Griffins on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and You Tube for the latest news about the Griffins. Updates of the weekend will be available on Twitter by following @wc_griffins.
 
Fans can stay connected with Westminster women's basketball by following @westminster_womens_basketball on Instagram.
 
ABOUT WESTMINSTER
Westminster will begin the NCAA Division II membership process this season and will play its first season in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. The Griffins enter the new league having won seven straight Frontier Conference regular season titles and three straight tournament championships.
 
The Griffins are coming off a 2014-15 campaign that saw them go 26-3 ad advance to the second round of the NAIA National Championships. They have won at least 20 games in each of the past nine seasons and have three consecutive wins with 26 or more.
 
This year's team returns three players from last season, including a pair that played in every game a year ago. Mika Pinner averaged 6.3 points per game last season, making 12 starts, and she recorded 29 blocked shots and 103 rebounds. Jessica Sorensen played 12.5 minutes per night and scored 2.5 points with 2.9 rebounds per game. Lancee Whetman appeared in 13 games and scored 11 points.
 
The team will welcome 12 newcomers to the roster this season. That group includes six transfers and six freshmen. Natalie Parsons joins the team after playing in 13 games at Rutgers last season. Aubrie Vale led Big Bend Community College in scoring at 15.73 points per game last season and she is joined by her teammate from last season, Riley Reidhead, who scored 12.77 points per game.
 
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
• Fort Lewis – The Skyhawks are coming off a 16-11 season in 2014-15 and they went 13-9 in the RMAC to place tied for fifth. They went out on the first round of the RMAC Tournament. Sort Lewis was chosen to finish fifth in the RMAC this season and senior Mary Rambo was named to the preseason all-conference team.
 
Westminster and Fort Lewis will play for the first time on Friday. The two teams will also play a conference game in the Behnken Field House on January 15.
 
• Adams State – The Griffins finished 5-21 overall and 5-17 in the RMAC to place tied for 12th last season. The Grizzlies return three letterwinners from a season ago in Lena Jaycox, Nicole Broyles, and Cydney McHenrey. Jaycox returns as the leading scorer from a year ago, leading the team with an average of 7.6 points per game.
 
Adams State holds a 1-0 lead in the all-time series against the Griffins. They claimed a 59-50 win at a natural site on December 5, 2003. The two teams will also meet in a conference game on January 16 in Salt Lake City.
 
DEFENSE SETS THE TONE
The Griffins finished last season allowing just 49.17 points per game to lead the NAIA. They held 24 opponents under 60 points and never allowed a team to shoot above 50 percent in a game. The opposition finished the year shooting 34.4 percent from the field and 30.3 percent from beyond the arc. They were fourth in the NAIA by allowing just 32.14 rebounds per game.
 
DEFENSIVE PRESENCE
Pinner is back for her senior season and she gives the Griffins some rim protection. Last season, Pinner led the team with 29 blocked shots. That ranks as the seventh-most for a single season in team history. That also ranks her eighth in team history for a career. She led the team in blocked shots 15 times a year ago and had three blocks in a game on three occasions.  Pinner also scored 6.3 points per game and she scored in double figures eight times.
 
OVER AT HALFTIME
Westminster finished last season 23-0 when leading at halftime and they enter the season having won 70 consecutive games when they head to intermission with a lead. The team has won 75 straight games when grabbing more rebounds than the opposition and 37 straight when shooting at least 50 percent from the field.
 
HOME COURT ADVANTAGE
The Griffins been stellar at home during their recent success. The team is 37-2 in the Behnken Field House since the start of the 2012-13 season and they enter this season having won eight straight and 37 of the past 38 games played at home.
 
UP NEXT
After playing the exhibition game at Utah State on Monday, Westminster will be back in action on November 24 when they face Dixie State in St. George, Utah. Their first home game is slated for November 27 against Northwest Nazarene.