Women's college basketball: Weber women defeat Westminster

OGDEN — The Weber State women's basketball team moved to 2-1 on the season Tuesday night with an 84-73 win over Westminster College (8-2) at the Dee Events Center.

"They're a great little ball club," said WSU head coach Carla Taylor. "He (Westminster coach J.D. Gustin) has a system in place that works well for them. His kids have bought in, are very disciplined and they do what they do very well."

The Wildcats pushed out to a 10-point lead with 9:22 remaining in the opening half, but Westminster's Shannon Evans led the Griffins on a quick 11-2 run over the next 1:42 to cut the lead to one. The game was tied with just over a minute left in the half, but a pair of free throws by Sarah Conner and a layup by Tonya Schnibbe put Weber State up 37-33 at the break.

The Griffins stayed within four points early in the second half, and used a 9-0 run capped by a Elisa Leader layup to take a five-point lead at 58-53 with 8:52 remaining. The Wildcats fought back on a three-pointer by Ali Thorderson and a pair of Schnibbe free throws to tie the game at 58-58 with 7:26 to play.

After Evans hit her third trey of the night to tie the game at 64-64, Karlee Weight put the Wildcats up for good on a layup with 4:25 left. The Griffins refused to die and were only down two with just over a minute to play, but Ali Thorderson's three put the 'Cats up by five with 1:13 remaining and WSU converted six-straight attempts from the free throw line in the final minute to seal the win.

"We never really looked meshed as a team for most of the game tonight," said Taylor. "It's disappointing that we took a step back from our last game and that we didn't play together as well as we did against Washington. But the last group that we had in really gave us some stability defensively. We were getting extended on the defensive end all night, which led to some easy baskets for them. The last group finally bought in to staying together defensively and keeping them in front of us, and that really made the difference late in the game."

Caitlin Anderson, who was named the Big Sky Conference co-Player of the Week earlier in the day, had another outstanding performance. The sophomore forward led all players with 24 points and eight rebounds. She hit 11 of 17 shots from the floor, including a pair from three-point range.

"Caitlin's been tremendous," said Taylor. "She gives us a four that can defend bigger players inside or smaller players on the perimeter and she is a great rebounder for a 5-11 player."