Fulton, MO 2/15/2023- The Westminster College women's basketball team welcomed Fontbonne University into the Historic Gym for the last home game of the regular season. The two teams came into the game tied for the third seed in the conference tournament. The Blue Jays were powered by a 25-point fourth quarter to win the game 65-59. Westminster improves to 15-9 on the season and 9-4 in the SLIAC. The Griffins fell to 13-11 on the year and 8-5 on the SLIAC.
Westminster started the game with a 6-0 lead. Fontbonne would come back and take the lead 12-10 with 4:06 left in the first quarter. The Blue Jays would end the quarter on a 6-0 run to take a 16-12 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Fontbonne would tie the game 16-16 in the early part of the second quarter. The Jays would take the lead back after senior guard Shelby Kurtz (Camdenton, MO/ Camdenton) hit a three to get the lead back to 19-16. Kurtz would hit another three with 4:57 remaining to give Westminster a 24-20 lead. A few minutes later, she would hit her third three-pointer of the quarter to put the Blue Jays up 29-25. Fontbonne would come back to tie the game right before the buzzer and the two teams went to the locker room tied 31-31.
Aly Bullock (St. James, MO/ St. James) got things started for the Blue Jays in the second half after they turned the ball over on their first three possessions. Both teams would struggle offensively in the third quarter, with only 19 total points scored. Fontbonne would hit a three and layup at the end of the quarter to take a 41-40 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
The Griffins would hit a three to take a 44-40 lead in the fourth quarter. Kurtz would give the Blue Jays the lead back 56-54 with 2:13 left to play after hitting her fourth three-pointer of the game. Fontbonne would score on their next possession to tie the game back up 56-56. Caragan Lockard (Eolia, MO / Clopton) would score a basket and get fouled. She made the free throw to give the Blue Jays a 61-58 lead with 1:02 left in the game. Westminster would score four more free throws down the stretch and win the game 65-59.
Kurtz led the Blue Jays' offense, scoring 12 points in the game and going 4-9 from three. She would also have 7 rebounds, 4 assists, and 5 steals. Annette Ramirez (Sarcoxie, MO / Sarcoxie) scored 11 points, grabbed 4 rebounds, and had 3 assists and 3 steals. Lockard scored 11 points coming in off the bench. She was 5-7 from the field. Natalie Archambault (Eureka, MO / -) was the fourth Blue Jay to score in double figures, chipping 10 points off the bench.
The Blue Jays will face off against Webster University in St. Louis for the season finale on Saturday. That game will tip off at 1:00 PM.
