FULTON, Mo. - Kendahl Adams and Kelsey Ray each tallied a double-double to earn a 66-57 win over SLIAC opponent Fontbonne.
The Blue Jays improve to 6-5 overall and 3-1 in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference with the win.
The double-double was a career first for Ray, who finished with 10 points and 10 boards. Adams finished the day one short of the gameday rebound record, tallying 17 points and 16 rebounds.
"Kelsey gets a lot of credit for asking me awhile back if she could crash the boards instead of getting back all the time," said Westminster Head Coach James Arnold. "It was a great call on her part and she had a really great night.
Kendahl continues to be a stat sheet stuffer for us and tonight was no different," continued Arnold. "She and Kelsey did a good job of picking up the slack on the defensive end with MJ (Mirrakohl Johnson) out."
The Griffins came strong to start, scoring 18 points to Westminster's 10 in the first quarter. The Blue Jays turned it back on in the second quarter, scoring 22 points and holding Fontbonne to just eight. The second quarter included a 15-0 run that included six of Ray's 10 points.
A made freethrow from Beeler with just over a minute remaining in the half put the Blue Jays ahead by double figures for the first time in the game, but Fontbonne quickly recovered the go into the half 34-26 in favor of Westminster.
The Griffins came back within three points early in the third quarter, but a layup from Adams and a three-pointer from Mikalyn Callahan put Westminster back up 41-33 at the 7:00 mark.
Westminster continued to hold a single digit lead throughout the third quarter, until a layup from Adams to open the fourth gave Westminster another double-digit lead.
The Blue Jays went up by as many as 15 points in the final minutes of the game, but Fontbonne continued to knock down shots to force Westminster to keep playing hard. A jump shot from Ray and made freethrow from Makayla Jackson led to the Blue Jay victory.
Along with Ray and Adams, Callahan added 14 points while Beeler scored 10.
"I'm really pleased with our effort on the defensive end and our execution of the scouting report tonight," said Arnold. "We had two really good practices leading up to tonight and the work and focus paid off. It was a tremendous team effort."
Westminster travels to Iowa Wesleyan Saturday to continue conference play.
