DENVER - Westminster women's basketball (2-3, 1-0 RMAC) allowed just one field goal over the final 8 minutes and 19 seconds and shot 77.8 percent (7-of-9) from the field as a team in the fourth quarter to pull away in a 62-48 win over MSU Denver (4-2, 0-1 RMAC) on Saturday afternoon at the Auraria Event Center.
Ashley Greenwood finished with a team-leading 22 points on 6-of-14 shooting from the field and 10-of-12 shooting at the free throw line.
Sarah McGinley (14) and
Abby Mangum (12) also had double-digit scoring efforts after hitting late shots down the stretch to help Westmisnter pull away in the fourth.
Mangum also finished with three blocks and four steals while
Hunter Krebs had a team-leading eight rebounds to go along with a strong defensive game that included two blocks in the box score. Krebs helped hold Allie Navarette, who began the week averaging 12.6 ppg in the Roadrunners' frontcourt, to just seven points on 2-of-9 shooting.
The Griffins held MSU Denver, which began the night averaging 65.8 ppg, to 16 points or fewer in all four quarters including just eight points from the Roadrunners in the fourth quarter in which they went 3-of-17 (18 percent) overall as a team.
Westminster trailed 29-22 at the half and MSU Denver scored the first two buckets of the third quarter to go ahead by 11, its largest lead of the game. The Griffins would then reel off an 11-0 run, taking the lead back on a Greenwood jumper in the paint to go up, 34-33.
Both teams finished below 40 percent shooting in the third and the Roadrunners held a one-point lead heading into the final frame, but a McGinley three-pointer early in the fourth put Westminster back ahead by one and ignited a 13-1 Griffins' run.
Westminster allowed just one field goal and one trip to the free throw line from MSU Denver in the final eight minutes to snap the Roadrunners' three-game win streak. The Griffins have now won four straight over MSU Denver including three straight in the Mile High City and now own a 5-3 lead in the all-time series against the Roadrunners.
Westminster, which has finished in the top-three of the RMAC in each of the past three seasons, has now won three of its last four conference openers and snaps a three-game losing skid heading into the weekend.
The Griffins will be across town in Lakewood, Colo., tomorrow afternoon to play Colorado Christian beginning at 1 p.m.
All Westminster basketball games are available for FREE streaming on the RMAC Network. Viewers can watch live or on-demand online at rmacnetwork.com/Westminster or via the RMAC Network app, available on all major app stores.
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