SILVER CITY, N.M. – Trailing by 17 early in the fourth quarter, the Western New Mexico University women's basketball team began to mount a big rally that just fell short as Westminster College held on for the 66-60 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference win Saturday night.

WC (9-12, 6-11 RMAC) hit the opening bucket of the fourth quarter and looked to be well on their way to the victory holding a 55-38 lead.

Sophomore Jade Botelho (Honolulu, HI/Iolani ) answered on the other end of the floor for WNMU (7-15, 5-12 RMAC) and the Lady Mustangs came to life. Junior Deandra Williams (Rosenburg, TX/Terry ) hit a jumper in the paint on the next possession and then a three-pointer by junior Jordan Gutierrez (Albuquerque, NM/Valley ) had the deficit down to just 10, 55-45, with 7:25 left in the game.

The Lady Mustangs began to ratchet up the full court pressure and it was paying off. Following a three-point play by senior My'Kale French (Racine, WI/Case ) and jumper by Williams, WNMU was within five, 59-54, with still 2:46 to play.

WC missed on their next shot, but got an offensive rebound. After running the clock down, Aubrie Vale hit on a big three-pointer at the top-of-the-key that moved the Griffins ahead by eight with just a minute to play.

The Lady Mustangs got it back to six, but that would be as close as they could get the rest of the way.

The Griffins held the early lead jumping out to a 10-4 advantage. WNMU was never able to erase the deficit the rest of the opening quarter and WC took a 16-10 lead into the second quarter.

Williams and Gutierrez converted on back-to-back possessions to tie the game at 24 with 3:25 to play in the second quarter. The Griffins responded outscoring WNMU by four the rest of the half to hold a 32-28 halftime lead.

Williams had WNMU as close as a point nearly a minute into the third quarter when the Griffins took over. They outscored the Lady Mustangs 21-10 in the third quarter to hold their big lead that WNMU nearly erased in the final quarter.

Tonight's game was completely different from Friday's game as both teams shot the ball well. WC made 20-49 (41) and went 5-17 (29) from three-point range. They added a solid 21-28 (75) at the charity stripe. WNMU went 28-63 (44), but just 1-11 (9) from three. They also took just 10 free throws making three (30).

The Griffins dominated the glass holding a 40-26 advantage on rebounds. WNMU was strong in the paint with the 38-28 edge.

Williams was a force all game long for the Lady Mustangs as she poured in a season-high 17 points going 8-9 from the field. She also brought down a team-high nine rebounds. Junior Desiree Smith (Phoenix, AZ/Tolleson Union ) tallied 14 points and Gutierrez added 12, while posting three steals.

Mika Pinner paced the Griffins and lead all-scorers with 18 points. Vale came away with 13 points.

WNMU will have a quick turnaround as they will host Northern New Mexico on Monday beginning at 6 p.m.