GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. --- The Western Colorado women's basketball team was hit with a barrage of early 3-pointers from a hot shooting Westminster squad and couldn't battle back as the Mountaineers had their season come to an end with a 68-52 loss in the NCAA Tournament West Region semifinals Saturday at Brownson Arena.
 
The Mountaineers end their season 14-6 after reaching the NCAA Tournament for the second year in a row, though this was their first game after last season's event was canceled due to COVID-19.
 
Western Colorado trailed just 9-7 with 7:22 remaining in the first quarter before a 13-0 run by Westminster increased its advantage to 22-7 lead with 3:20 left in the quarter. The Griffins led 24-10 after the first quarter thanks to going 5-for-7 from 3-point territory.
 
The Mountaineers wouldn't get closer than 12 points the rest of the game as the Griffins (13-5) had an answer for each run Western had.
 
Westminster would go 7-for-10 from 3-point range in the first half to build a 41-22 lead at the break and finished the game 10-for-22 from 3.
 
As for the Mountaineers, they finished the game shooting 28.8 percent, including 5-for-16 from 3-point range.
 
Emmery Wagstaff led the Mountaineers with 13 points and six rebounds while Hannah Cooper had 12 points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals.
 
Hunter Krebs led Westminster with 21 points to go along with six rebounds and three blocked shots.
 
The Griffins take on Azuza Pacific 6 p.m. Monday for the West Region championship.