Top Two Seeds Westminster, Eureka Advance to Women's Basketball Tournament Final

FULTON, Mo. - Westminster College and Eureka College, the top two seeds in the 2012 SLIAC Women's Basketball Tournament advance to the championship game after winning their respective semifinal games. The two teams will face off tomorrow at 7:00pm in Fulton.

Eureka, the #2-seed, defeated #3 Fontbonne University 63-56 behind the offensive performances of Caty Eeten and Khassandrae Brown. Eeten led the Red Devils with a game-high 28 points on 9-of-15 (.600) shooting from the field and a perfect 9-of-9 (1.000) from the charity stripe. She also added nine rebounds and two blocks in the win. Brown recorded a double-double with 25 points and 11 rebounds, and finished 10-of-15 (.667) from the field.

Fontbonne had three players score in double figures, but the Griffins were held to only 29.5 percent shooting (18-of-61) from the floor. Shelby Ellison led the Griffins with 20 points, including 11-of-11 (1.000) from the free throw line. Chelsey Freymuth added 13 points and nine rebounds, while Hilary Johnson had 10 points, six rebounds and three assists.

In the other semifinal game, top-seed Westminster defeated #4-seed Webster University 69-34 to claim their spot in the tournament championship. The Blue Jays led by only six points at the half, but stellar defense in the second half held the Gorloks to only seven points to help Westminster run away with the victory.

Westminster's offensive output was distributed evenly among their starters. Hannah Kloster scored a game-high 13 points and recorded four rebounds, three assists, three steals and one block. Leigh Ann Lutz and Heather Letourneau added 10 points a piece, and Letourneau also tallied nine rebounds and seven steals. Liz Klaffenbach scored in double figures as well with 11 points, and Rachel Backes finished with nine points, four steals and three assists.

Webster's Courtney Pursley came of the bench and led her squad with 10 points on 4-of-8 (.500) shooting and nine rebounds. Cassie Endicott also grabbed nine boards and added six points and three blocks.