SALT LAKE CITY – The No. 4 Westminster women's basketball team advanced to a fourth-straight Frontier Conference Tournament championship game with a 72-65 win over Montana Tech on Friday night in the Behnken Field House.
 
Westminster (24-2) is looking for a third-straight tournament title as they are the top-seed heading into Monday's championship game against No. 2-seed Montana State-Northern. The Griffins will host the title game at 7 p.m. (MT) in the Behnken Field House.
 
"We tried to get the ball inside more tonight," Westminster head coach Shelley Jarrard said after the game. "We also contained (Montana Tech) better in the second half."
 
Sixth-seeded Montana Tech (12-19) gave the Griffins a battle on Friday. They put together a 14-5 run early in the first half to open a seven-point advantage – their largest of the night – with 11:43 to play in the period. Westminster would counter with 11-straight points with threes from Mika Pinner and Amy Krommenhoek to take a 22-18 lead with 7:30 before halftime.
 
As the teams went back-and-forth for the next six minutes, Montana Tech closed the half with seven of the final nine points, including a layup from Martha Dembek with eight seconds to play, to take a 37-36 lead into intermission. The Orediggers shot 53.8 percent in the first half while Westminster shot 50 percent.
 
"Tech was hot in the first half shooting 54 percent in the half," Jarrard commented about the opponent's performance. "Fortunately for us Amy (Krommenhoek) was hot as well. We have a group of seniors that take turns showing up and tonight in was Amy."
 
The Griffins scored the first nine points of the second half to take the eight-point lead. Shelby Ellsworth scored five of the nine while Tia Pappas scored the other four. Westminster would not trail for the rest of the night, but they found themselves tied at 54-54 with 8:43 remaining on a Dembek jumper.
 
Westminster put the game away with their defense as they forced Tech into 1-of-7 shooting and five turnovers in the next 7:54 of action. They outscored the visitors 13-4 during the span with Krommenhoek scoring nine of her season-high 22 points during the run.
 
The Griffins finished the game shooting 46.2 percent from the floor with 24 points in the paint and seven threes. The nation's leading 3-point shooting team made 38.9 percent from beyond the arc in the game, including 6-of-12 in the first half. They totaled 15 assists to only 11 turnovers and got 20 points from their bench.
 
Krommenhoek notched her third-straight 20-point outing with those 22 points. It is the first time a Westminster players has scored at least 20 points in three-straight games since Nicole Yazzie in February of 2010. Krommenhoek was 7-of-13 from the field and she made her three of her first four from beyond the arc before finishing 4-of-7 in the game. The senior was also perfect on four attempts at the foul line with two assists and two steals.
 
Montana Tech finished the game at 43.9 percent, but they were just 11-of-31 (35.5) percent in the second half. Westminster forced them into 16 turnovers and they turned them into 20 points. The Griffins notched eight steals and four blocks with three from Pinner.
 
Ellsworth finished the game with a season-high 17 points, scoring 12 after halftime. She also pulled in four rebounds with three assists and two steals. Pinner added 10 points and three rebounds. Pappas had nine points, seven rebounds, four assists and one steal.
 
Montana Tech had three players score in double figures with Dembek leading the way with 18. Hattie Thatcher added 16 points and Kabri Emerson scored 11.
 
Tickets for Monday's championship game will be on sale starting on Saturday at WestminsterGriffins.com/tickets. Westminster swept the season series with No. 10 MSU-Northern.