GOLDEN, Colo. – The Westminster women's basketball team tried to rally from 20 points down in the fourth quarter, but came up two points short in a 59-57 loss at Colorado School of Mines on Saturday night in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play.
 
Westminster (4-5, 1-4 RMAC) scored the game's final 17 points as they outscored Colorado Mines 20-5 in the fourth quarter. It wouldn't be enough as they dropped consecutive games for the first time since November of 2011.
 
The Griffins never led in the game and were behind 19-13 after the opening quarter when Mines (7-2, 5-0) closed the period with an 11-5 run. Five straight Griffin points to close the half sent the game to intermission with the home side in front 35-31.
 
It was the third quarter that doomed the Griffins on Saturday. Mines opened a 54-37 lead after three by holding the Griffins to only six points in the 10 minutes. The lead reached 20 with 9:30 to play when the Griffins started their rally. It was down to four after Aubrie Vale made a pair of free throws with 48 seconds to play, but after getting a stop on defense, Natalie Parsons missed a 3-pointer with 10 seconds to play to seal their fate.
 
Denise Gonzalez finished the game leading all scorers with 16 points. She made four 3-pointers and had two assists and one steal. Vale used 3 of 3 shooting from beyond the arc to help her to 15 points off the bench. Sicilee Williams added 12 points for her second double-digit scoring effort of the season.
 
Westminster finished the game shooting 31.7 percent from the field with 10 – a season high – of their 19 field goal coming from deep. They tallied 12 assists and grabbed 12 offensive rebounds. Mines shot 45 percent from the field and scored 36 point in the paint.
 
Emily Bailey led three Orediggers in double figures with 15 points off the bench. Laura Tyree added a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
 
The Griffins will now be off for 10 days before playing an exhibition contest at Weber State on December 29 in Ogden, Utah. The return to conference action on January 1 when they host Black Hills State in the Behnken Field House.