The No. 1 seed Westminster women advanced to their third NAIA quarterfinals in four seasons with a 65-56 win over No. 4 seed Mid-America Nazarene (Kan.) on Friday in Frankfort, Ky.
The Griffins jumped out to a couple of big first-half leads, but the Pioneers kept fighting back and trimmed Westminster's lead to 25-21 heading into halftime on a buzzer-beater by Brooke Rinehart.
In the second half, however, the Griffins (26-2) went on a 13-3 run to take a double-digit lead. Mid-America Nazarene never threatened again. The closest the Pioneers could get the rest of the way was 9 points.
Westminster's Tia Pappas had a team-high 17 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Shelby Ellsworth had 12 points and nine boards for the Griffins; and Alli Blake (13) and Kelsi Wells (12) joined them in double digits.
Westminster faces No. 3 seed Wiley (Texas) in a quarterfinal Saturday at 4 p.m.
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No. 1 Westminster vs. No. 3 Wiley
O NAIA quartefinals in Frankfort, Ky.Saturday, 4 p.m. MDT