No. 1 Westminster (Utah) Moves On With 66-50 Win Over No. 8 William Woods (Mo.)
Mar 20, 2014
FRANKFORT, Ky. – (Box Score) Westminster (Utah) became the third No. 1 seed to punch its ticket to the second round with a 66-50 win over William Woods (Mo.) in the final morning session game Thursday. The Westminster Griffins (25-2) extend their win streak to 18 games this season and will meet No. 4 MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) on Friday at 6:15 p.m. EDT.
It is the Griffins' sixth-straight NAIA appearance opening round win.
Frontier Conference Player of the Year Alli Blake and Defensive Player of the Year Tia Pappas paced Westminster with 19 points each, while Shelby Ellsworth cleaned up 11 rebounds.
Westminster closed the half on a 19-5 run to lead at the break, 38-29. The Griffins held William Woods to 9.09 percent shooting (1-for-11) from the floor in the final 10 minutes of the half, including an eight-minute drought from the floor by the Owls. WWU was 3-for-6 from the foul line during the same stretch.
The game was back-and-forth early with William Woods, but Katie Scherder hit two 3s to give the Owls a 16-15 lead. That lead grew to five, 24-19, before Westminster built its run. Ellsworth regained the lead for the Griffins, 25-24, with 7:42 remaining in the opening half and Westminster never looked back.
Westminster used another 9-0 lead in the second half to stretch its lead to 20 points, 53-33, the largest lead of the game.
The Owls worked the margin back down to nine, 59-50, on a basket by Dennisha Rice, but Alli Winters answered with a 3 to regain the Griffin's double-digit cushion. WWU closed the game on another near five-minute drought, shooting 0-for-8 from the floor. The Owls finished the day shooting 34.55 percent from the floor.
Westminster forced foul trouble on WWU's leading scorer Andraquay Quinnine, who was scoreless in the game. She finishes the season with a single-season school record 76 made 3-pointers.
Destani Stensrud led the Owls with 12 points. Scherder, a second team American Midwest Conference selection, led WWU most of the game but finished with 11 points along with Rice.
With Westminster's win, the Frontier Conference moves to 3-0 in this year's national championship and is the only conference to have advanced three teams to the second round thus far.
William Woods finishes its season with a 22-11 record after advancing to the NAIA Championships as the final at-large team for the program's seventh trip to the tournament.
It is the Griffins' sixth-straight NAIA appearance opening round win.
Frontier Conference Player of the Year Alli Blake and Defensive Player of the Year Tia Pappas paced Westminster with 19 points each, while Shelby Ellsworth cleaned up 11 rebounds.
Westminster closed the half on a 19-5 run to lead at the break, 38-29. The Griffins held William Woods to 9.09 percent shooting (1-for-11) from the floor in the final 10 minutes of the half, including an eight-minute drought from the floor by the Owls. WWU was 3-for-6 from the foul line during the same stretch.
The game was back-and-forth early with William Woods, but Katie Scherder hit two 3s to give the Owls a 16-15 lead. That lead grew to five, 24-19, before Westminster built its run. Ellsworth regained the lead for the Griffins, 25-24, with 7:42 remaining in the opening half and Westminster never looked back.
Westminster used another 9-0 lead in the second half to stretch its lead to 20 points, 53-33, the largest lead of the game.
The Owls worked the margin back down to nine, 59-50, on a basket by Dennisha Rice, but Alli Winters answered with a 3 to regain the Griffin's double-digit cushion. WWU closed the game on another near five-minute drought, shooting 0-for-8 from the floor. The Owls finished the day shooting 34.55 percent from the floor.
Westminster forced foul trouble on WWU's leading scorer Andraquay Quinnine, who was scoreless in the game. She finishes the season with a single-season school record 76 made 3-pointers.
Destani Stensrud led the Owls with 12 points. Scherder, a second team American Midwest Conference selection, led WWU most of the game but finished with 11 points along with Rice.
With Westminster's win, the Frontier Conference moves to 3-0 in this year's national championship and is the only conference to have advanced three teams to the second round thus far.
William Woods finishes its season with a 22-11 record after advancing to the NAIA Championships as the final at-large team for the program's seventh trip to the tournament.
