SALT LAKE CITY, Utah—The Westminster women's basketball team will begin its season with a tough road test against Black Hills State tonight at 4 pm.

The Griffins and Yellow Jackets have played each other six times since the 2015-16 season. Westminster trails in the series 2-4 but has won the last two games—69-53 last season and 92-89 in '18-19.

Westminster was picked third in the RMAC Preseason Coaches' Poll and Black Hills was picked fifth. Last season the Griffins ended the season in third and went to the RMAC Championship for a second straight season. The Yellow Jackets finished fifth and lost in the quarterfinals of the Championship.

Westminster (0-0)
Westminster was third in offense and defense last season, averaging 66.1 points per game and allowing just 58.1.
 
A strong team returns for the Griffins with seven returners that accounted for 79% of last season's scoring. Leading scorers Mariah Martin, 15.7 points per game, Hunter Krebs, 15.2 points per game, and Sarah McGinley, 13.2 points per game, return to lead the Griffin offense, along with returners Kaylee Carlsen, Abby Mangum, Addie Holmstead and Caitlyn Okerlund.
 
Martin, Krebs and McGinley were some of the top offense players in the conference. Krebs led the conference with a 58.5 field goal percentage, and she was ninth in scoring. Martin ranked eighth in scoring and was sixth in field goal percentage shooting 42.2. McGinley was second in three point shooting percentage, 44.6, and fifth in three point field goals made per game.
 
Leading rebounder Kaitlin Toluono graduated last year but McGinley, Krebs, Martin and Mangum were top-five in rebounding last year. McGinley averaged 6.1 rebounds per game, Krebs averaged 5.7, Martin averaged 3.8 and Mangum averaged 3.1.
 
Black Hills State (1-2)
The Yellow Jackets are 1-2 after three games. They suffered opening weekend losses to Western Colorado and Fort Lewis. Last Night Black Hills upset #24 ranked Colorado Mesa.

Their top scorers are #11 Racquel Wientjes, #33 Morgan Ham and #20 Megan Engesser. Wientjes is averaging 20.0 points per game shooting 37.0% from the field, 42.9% from three and 909% from the free throw line. Ham is averaging 19.0 points per game shooting 35.5% from the field, 40.0% from three and 90.0 percent from the line. Engesser is 61.5% from three having made 8 on 13 attempts. She is averaging 11.7 points per game.

Wientjes also leads the team in rebounding, averaging 6.7 boards per game. Engesser and Katie Messler each have 12 rebounds. Messler is averaging 6.0 rebounds per game and Engesser is averaging 4.0. They have four players averaging 3.0+ rebounds per game.

Watch the game live on the RMAC Network at 4 pm MST. A link to live stats is available at www.westminstergriffins.com/wbbsched.