The Westminster women's basketball team will play two games this week in their final action before starting Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play. On Tuesday, the Griffins will travel to St. George, Utah, for a 7 p.m. MT, contest against in-state foe Dixie State. They will then host Northwest Nazarene in the Behnken Field House on Friday at 2 p.m. MT, to kickoff the Westminster Thanksgiving Classic.
 
Tickets for Friday's game are available for purchase by visiting WestminsterGriffins.com/tickets. Fans that purchase their tickets online can receive $1 off admission by using the promo code Thanks at checkout.
 
3 THINGS
>Westminster starts the week as the RMAC leader in scoring defense by allowing 50.5 points per game
>The Griffins are closing in on the 500th game in school history having gone 304-187 (.619) in 491 all-time games
>Denise Gonzalez leads the RMAC by recording 5.0 assists per game
 
COVERING THE GRIFFINS
Tuesday's game will feature live video at southernutahlive.com/live for a fee of $10.95. There will also be live stats available during the game. Griffins TV will carry the home game on Friday with Mike Lageschulte calling the action. Griffins TV is available at portal.stretchinternet.com/Westminster. There will be live stats available in the Griffins TV portal and at sidearmstats.com/westminster/wbball.
 
FOLLOWING WESTMINSTER WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Make sure to like Westminster Griffins on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and You Tube for the latest news about the Griffins. Game updates are provided 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 enters this week's action with a 1-1 overall record after playing at the Skyhawks Regional Challenge on November 13-14. They are 0-1 in road games on the year with Friday marking the season's home opener. The Griffins have won 16 straight non-conference home games.
 
The Griffins are 10th in the conference by scoring 56 points per game and they shoot 34.3 percent from the floor. They are making 6.0 threes per game and connecting on 25.5 percent from beyond the arc through two games. The team ranks fifth in the RAMC in assists at 14 per night and they sit sixth with a 0.8 assist-to-turnover ratio.
 
Westminster leads the league in scoring defense by holding opponents to 50.5 points per game. The opposition is has shot just 29.5 percent from the field in the first two games and made only 23.5 percent from three. The Griffins grab 42.5 rebounds per game and average 10 steals per night to help them force 12.5 turnovers a contest.
 
Natalie Parsons leads the team in scoring at 17 points per game and the senior is shooting 52.4 percent from the floor. Denise Gonzalez and Riley Reidhead are scoring 8.0 points per game and Lancee Whetman averages 6.5 per game. Parsons is tops on the squad with 11 rebounds. Gonzalez has a team-best 11 assists and seven steals. Mika Pinner leads the way with three blocked shots.
 
LOOKING BACK
The Griffins opened the season with a 73-46 loss to Fort Lewis on November 13. They shot just 30.4 percent from the floor in the game and were only 3 of 24 from beyond the arc. Parsons scored a team high 13 points in the loss.
 
Westminster responded the next day to claim a 66-28 win against Adams State. They tied a school record for fewest points allowed in a game while holding the Grizzlies to 14.8 percent shooting. Parsons scored 21 points and grabbed 210 rebounds for her first double-double of the season. Gonzalez added 13 points, six assists, and four steals.
 
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
•Dixie State – The Red Storm enter Tuesday at 0-2 on the season after dropping two games at the GNAC/PacWest Challenge to Alaska Anchorage and Alaska Fairbanks. Leslie Tademy leads the team in scoring at 11 points per game. Tramina Jordan adds 10.5 points per night for a team that scores 62.5 on average.
 
The Griffins are 3-0 all-time against the Storm and 1-0 in games played in St. George. Westminster took a 69-55 win in the last meeting on December 4, 2007 in the Behnken Field House.
 
•Northwest Nazarene – The Crusaders have opened the season with a 1-3 overall record. They dropped road games at Cal Baltpist and Point Loma over the weekend and have now lost three straight. Four Crusaders' score in double figures with Kate Cryderman leading the way at 15.5 per night. Lexi Tubbs adds 14 points per game and leads the team with nine threes.
 
Northwest Nazarene leads the all-time series against the Griffins 2-0. Both of the previous two meetings were played in Nampa with NNU taking the last outing, 71-46, on November 24, 2000.
 
DEFENSE SETS THE TONE
Westminster begins play this week leading the RMAC in scoring defense by allowing just 50.5 points per game. They held Adams State to only 28 points, matching a school record for fewest points allowed, and the Grizzlies only shot 14.8 percent from the field. Last season, 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.
 
DEFENSIVE PRESENCE
Mika Pinner is back for her senior season and she gives the Griffins some rim protection. After leading the team with 29 blocked shots last season, Pinner had three blocks in the season's first two games. She currently ranks fifth in the RMAC in blocks at 1.5 per contest. She now has 32 blocks as a Griffin to rank seventh in school history.
 
IMMEDIATE IMPACT
Natalie Parsons has quickly become the focal point of the Griffin offense in her first season with the team. Parsons led the team in scoring during both games of the opening weekend and she scored 21 points on 6 of 11 shooting in the win over Adams State. She is tied for second in the conference by scoring 17 points per game and she sits fifth in the league by hitting on 54.5 percent from beyond the arc.
 
GIVE & TAKE
Denise Gonzalez started the first two games at point guard and established herself on both ends of the floor. The freshman tallied 11 assists in the opening two games and she currently leads the RMAC at 5.5 assists per game. Gonzalez also grabbed seven steals and is second in the conference with an average of 3.5 steals per outing. She is second on the team in scoring at 8.0 points per game and is a perfect 11 of 11 at the foul line to lead the RMAC.
 
OVER AT HALFTIME
With its win over Adams State, Westminster extended its winning streak when leading at halftime to 71 consecutive games. They have also won 76 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.
 
GRIFFINS PICKED 12TH
Westminster received 73 points and was picked to finish 12th in the RMAC Preseason Coaches' Poll that was released on October 15. The Griffins were chosen to place seventh in the Rocky Division, ahead of only South Dakota Mines. Colorado Mesa was chosen as the favorite to win the league with UCCS, Colorado Christian, and Regis also receiving first-place votes.
 
ALL RMAC GAMES ON GRIFFINS TV
New this season, fans will be able to watch all Westminster conference games on the Griffins TV Game Central portal. All Griffin conference games will be shown at portal.stretchinternet.com/Westminster and you will have the ability to watch multiple conference games at the same time. You can find all of the RMAC action by visiting RMACsports.tv.
 
RMAC SHOWCASE ON ALTITUDE
The RMAC Showcase is a monthly 30-minute feature driven television show with stories and highlights from around the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. Episodes are shot on location at the 16 campus sites around the RMAC, various conference championships and at the RMAC office in Colorado Springs. Now in its 12th season on the Altitude Sports Network - the most watched regional sports network in the Rockies which is seen in more than 5.1 million homes in across the country - the RMAC Showcase is the longest running program on Altitude, not produced by the network itself. Altitude is available in the Salt Lake City market on Comcast 61, Dish Network 413, and DirecTV 681.
 
LOOKING AHEAD
The Griffins will turn their attention to RMAC play with the team's first conference game as a member of the league on December 5 in the Behnken Field House against Colorado Mesa. The action will tip at 5:30 p.m. MT with tickets available at WestminsterGriffins.com/tickets.