Westminster College women's basketball traveled to St. Louis on Wednesday to take on the Fontbonne University Griffins. It was a back-and-forth game that saw the game tied 10 times and four lead changes. Neither team led by over eight points in the game. The Blue Jays had a 58-55 lead with 4:07 left. However, the Griffins outscored the Blue Jays 15-6 in the final four minutes to regain the lead and won the game 70-64. With the victory, Fontbonne improves to 4-3 in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and 9-9 on the season. Westminster falls to 4-3 in conference play and 10-8 overall. The Blue Jays currently hold the No. 4 spot in the conference at the halfway point of the SLIAC schedule, and the Griffins are No. 5.
Annette Ramirez stayed hot, nailing a 3 to give the Blue Jays an early 3-1 lead. The Griffins took the lead and went up 8-3 in the early part of the first quarter. Both teams struggled on offense, with the Blue Jays scoring their second field goal of the game with five minutes left in the quarter to make it 8-5. Fontbonne got to the foul line and grew its lead, ending the first quarter up 15-9.
The Griffins maintained their lead in the first half of the second quarter, going up 23-15. However, Westminster chipped into the deficit, ending the half on a 9-3 run, and went to the locker room at halftime trailing 26-24.
Fontbonne started the third quarter on a 4-0 run. The Blue Jays answered with a 4-0 run of their own to make it 30-28 early in the second half. Ramirez tied it with a layup off an assist from Carli Libhart. Shelby Kurtz gave the Blue Jays the lead after making a jumper to make it 32-30. The two teams traded baskets for the rest of the quarter, with Westminster leading 43-41 at the end of the third quarter.
The fourth quarter started with both teams getting to the foul line, and they each made a free throw and missed one. Fontbonne scored on its next possession to tie the game 44-44 with 8:56 left to play. After a pair of layups each way, Ramirez drilled a 3 to put the Blue Jays up 49-46. Fontbonne tied the game again at 53-53 with six minutes left. The lead continued to juggle back and forth. The Griffins made a layup to take a 59-58 lead and then scored another layup forcing the Blue Jays to call timeout with 2:31 remaining. Westminster trailed 61-58. After the timeout, Kurtz scored to put the Jays down one point. Fontbonne scored on its next two possessions to take a 65-60 lead. The Blue Jays fouled to extend the game but lost 70-64.
Ramirez led the way scoring 28 points and grabbing five rebounds. Libhart and Kurtz both had 10 points in the game.
The Blue Jays will be back in action Saturday when they travel to take on Blackburn College. That game will start at 1 p.m.