St. Louis, Mo 2/23/2024- The Westminster College women's basketball team took on the Principia College Panthers in the SLIAC women's basketball tournament semi-finals hosted by Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri. The Blue Jays received a first-round bye for earning the #2 seed and the Panthers advanced after defeating Spalding University on Wednesday. Westminster would defeat Principia 63-56 and advance to the conference championship game on Saturday. The Panthers ended their season with a 17-9 record overall and 14-4 in the SLIAC.
Westminster would get off to a slow start, only scoring 9 points in the first quarter, and would trail the Panthers for much of the first half. The Blue Jays would get their first lead of the game at 22-20 after Aly Bullock made a jump shot, with 3:17 remaining in the first half. The game was tied at halftime, 26-26.
The Blue Jay offense would come to life in the third quarter, scoring 22 points and holding the Panthers to 12, taking a commanding 48-38 lead into the fourth quarter. Westminster would hold off a rally from the Panthers who cut the lead down to six but would run out of time as the Blue Jays won the game 63-56.
Annette Ramirez led the Blue Jays with 16 points, 5 rebounds and 3 steals. Ramirez would break the Blue Jay's all-time career scoring record in the third quarter. Andrea Zalis was the Blue Jays' all-time scoring leader with 1,375 career points. Ramirez now holds the record and currently sits at 1,379 career points and counting as the junior guard has at least one more game this season and her senior year still to play.
Olivia Hixson would also score in double figures having 11 points and 11 rebounds, recording her first double-double of the season. Caragan Lockard had 8 points and 7 rebounds and Avylina Powell-Qualo had 6 points and 6 rebounds.
The Blue Jays will take on Webster University in the SLIAC Championship game for the fourth year in a row. The tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 PM inside Grant Gym at Webster University.
