WARRENSBURG, Miss.--A trip to the defending national champions was never going to be easy. Westminster won the second half, out scoring University of Central Missouri (UCM) by 16-points, but a low scoring first-half was too much for the Griffins to comeback from, losing 86-74.

Westminster scored 23 first-half points and fell behind 51-23.  The Griffins were 10-28 from the field, 2-5 from three and 1-2 from the free throw line and were out rebounded 23-13.

"I loved our second half and our fight," Head Coach Shelley Jarrard said.  "We dug a huge hole to dig out of."

Rather than excepting defeat, the Griffins fought hard in the second half and out scored the home team by seven in the third and nine in the fourth.    Senior Denise Gonzalez and sophomore Hunter Krebs led the second-half effort with 13- and 12-points respectively.  Sophomore Kaylee Carlsen and senior Olivia Elliss added eight, senior Sicilee Williams and junior Kaitlin Toluono each scored four and senior Hillary Weixler contributed two.  Westminster won the battle for the boards 19-13.

"Better defense, better ball movement and better check outs all contributed to the turnaround," Jarrard shared.

Westminster finished the day 28-59 (47.5%) from the field, 7-18 (38.9%) from beyond the arc and 11-13 (84.6%) from the charity stripe.

The Griffins are headed to Rolla, Miss., where they will play Missouri S&T tomorrow at 5:00 PM.