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NCAA ELITE EIGHT
Tuesday, Mar. 23
Women's Basketball: Falcons Lose In Quarterfinals
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| Reich |
In a game of scoring runs, her Seattle Pacific Falcons made a big one. But Fort Lewis College ultimately made the final one, and that -- along with a 23-5 advantage at the free throw line -- made the difference.
The Skyhawks outscored SPU by a 17-7 margin during the last seven minutes to pull out a 68-59 victory in the NCAA Division II Elite Eight quarterfinals Tuesday afternoon at St. Joseph (Mo.) Civic Arena.
Center Melissa Reich led four Falcon players in double figures with a career-high 17 points. But 13th -ranked Seattle Pacific (27-4) was unable to overcome the lopsided free throw disparity against No. 6 Fort Lewis of Durango, Colo.
"With 2:15 to play, I still felt good and felt like we could win," van Beek said. "We were down four. But this time of year, every team is good. Good teams make runs, and they made their run at the right time, and we didn't have a chance to answer back."
The Falcons, making the school's fourth Elite Eight appearance, came into St. Joseph on a 14-game winning streak. Fort Lewis (34-3), which had won 17 in a row before losing its regular-season finale and is in its first Elite Eight, advances to the national semifinals on Wednesday.
While the Falcons had five more field goals than the Skyhawks (25-20), Fort Lewis was 23 of 30 at the line. SPU was just five of eight. The Falcons were whistled 23 times to 13 for the Skyhawks.
SPU guard Daesha Henderson picked up three first-half fouls. Henderson, Reich, forward Megan Hoisington, forward Caitlyn Rohrbach and guard Nyesha Sims all finished the game with four.
"We're not a team that usually fouls in abundance," van Beek said, "But Fort Lewis attacked under the basket a lot, and we weren't able to get a basket the same way.
"A lot of it is they ran too many sets. It's hard to prepare for in some ways. We didn't have back-side help on defense and we were out of position and we fouled."
After starting the second half with a 31-27 lead, Fort Lewis gradually stretched it to 10 at 46-36 with 12:42 left in the game.
That's when Seattle Pacific went on a 16-5 comeback. That was capped by back-to-back lay-ups from Reich, giving the Falcons a 52-51 lead with 7:05 left.
The Skyhawks responded by scoring the next five points to start their 17-7 game-closing run. Rosel ignited the surge with a lay-up at 6:11 and then stole the ball. Laure Haugen capped that possession with a three-pointer at 5:22.
Guard Maddie Maloney finished with 12 points for the Falcons, and Sims wound up with 10.
Fort Lewis was led by the 19 points of Katie Mackey. Haugen finished with 16 points and Rosel chipped in 12.
NCAA WEST REGIONALS
March 15
Seattle Pacific Headed To Elite Eight; Reich Selected MVP
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| Melissa Reich |
Melissa Reich had 10 points and 11 rebounds Monday propelling 13th-ranked Seattle Pacific into the NCAA Division II Elite Eight with a 76-68 triumph over Chico State in the West Regional championship game at Brougham Pavilion.
The Falcons (27-3), top seeded in the West Region, won their 14th consecutive game to earn a trip to St. Joseph's, Mo. for a quarterfinal contest with Central Region winner Fort Lewis (31-3) on Mar. 23.
The national semifinals are slated for Mar. 24 with the championship game set for Mar. 26.
SPU earned its fourth Elite Eight berth and its first under fifth-year coach Julie van Beek. The Falcons lost in the quarterfinal round in 1998 and 2004. They reached the NCAA championship game in 2005 before falling 70-53 to Washburn.
Reich, who also had a double-double in Friday's first round and now has four on the season, was named the MVP. She averaged 12.3 points and 9.0 rebounds while shooting 65 percent (15 of 23) during SPU's three tournament victories.
The 6-foot-2 center from Bellevue Christian High School grabbed eight of her boards in the first half helping the Falcons to a commanding 49-30 rebound advantage for the game. SPU capitalized on its dominance on the glass, netting 21 second-chance points to just 10 for Chico.
The Falcons led by as many as 16 points during the first half, going ahead 38-22 on a three-point play by Reich 2:34 before halftime.
Courtney Harrison nailed three three-pointers in the final 2:20 of the half to ignite an 11-2 closing surge that drew Chico within 40-33 at halftime.
The Wildcats continued that run after intermission, scoring seven straight points to tie the score 40-40.
Synchro Bull opened the half with a free throw, Pauline Ferrall hit consecutive baskets and Bull made a layup with 17:22 left to play to forge the game's first deadlock.
Caitlyn Rohrbach halted the rally with a jump hook at 16:25 and Megan Hoisington followed with a putback that put SPU ahead for good.
Midway through the half, the Falcons extended the margin back into double digits with a run of 12 unanswered points over a four-minute span.
Rohrbach played a part in the final seven points of the spree. She made a layup and a three-pointer before passing to a cutting Maddie Maloney, whose layup made the score 56-42 in the Falcons' favor with 10:57 remaining.
The Wildcats never came closer than seven points the rest of the way.
Jordan Harazin, who converted six of seven free throws in the final 1:17 to secure the win, led five SPU double-figure scorers with 17 points, 10 of them coming from the free throw line. Nyesha Sims scored 12 points while Hoisington and Rohrbach had 11 each.
Melissa Richardson tallied 15 points to pace the No. 6 seeded Wildcats, who completed their season with a 23-10 record. Chico's Natasha Smith added 12 points and Harrison finished with 11.
The Wildcats claimed their only lead of the game at 2-1 on a basket by Ferrall 2:19 into the game. SPU scored the next six points, opening with two free throws by Daesha Henderson who capped the run with a layup.
Henderson joined Reich on the West Region all-tournament team along with Chico State's Smith, Hanna Johansson from Alaska Anchorage and Andrea Bobic from Humboldt State.
The Falcons finally broke through the regional final after losing in their last three appearances. SPU lost in 2008 and 2009 to Alaska Anchorage and in 2006 to Chi
March 13
Seattle Pacific Advances To Title Game Against Chico State
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| Henderson |
Then after a lay-in with 8.2 seconds left by Aden, Sims, who had been 0 for 4, hit two free throws to clinch the victory.
SPU's last 11 points came on free throws as it made 11 of 14 at the line in the final four minutes of the game.
March 12
Seattle Pacific, Alaska Anchorage To Square Off In Semis
Melissa Reich tallied a career-high 15 points and grabbed 11 rebounds Friday leading top-seeded Seattle Pacific to a 65-52 win over Hawaii Pacific in the NCAA West Regionals at Brougham Pavilion.
The Falcons (25-3) will play No. 4 seed Alaska Anchorage (24-4) in Saturday's second semifinal in a game matching the two highest remaining seeds in the tournament. The two-time defending West Region Seawolves used a big second half to beat Cal Poly Pomona 69-50.
The other semifinal will match sixth-seed Chico State which defeated Western Washington 79-68 and seventh-seeded Humboldt State which upset No. 2 UC San Diego 76-72.
Reich, a junior center from Bellevue Christian High School, registered her third double-double and led a balanced SPU attack that got 13 points from Daesha Henderson and 12 from Nyesha Sims.
Mana Hopkins scored 16 points to pace the Sea Warriors, who completed their season with an 18-7 record.
Hawaii Pacific opened an early four-point lead at 9-5 capped by a Paris Gravely jumper with 14:07 left in the first half.
SPU, however, scored the next nine points, ignited by consecutive baskets from Henderson, to claim the lead for good.
That started the Falcons, who also got six points and 11 rebounds from Megan Hoisington, on a surge that carried them to a 16-point advantage. HPU netted the final four points of the first period to draw within 29-17 at halftime.
The game was delayed for 20 minutes while the athletic training staff tended to a leg injury suffered by HPU's Genesis Lewis with 11:39 showing on the second-half clock. She was eventually taken away on a stretcher.
After the lengthy break, the Sea Warriors staged a 10-2 run to cut the deficit to 40-33 with 7:57 left to play.
Henderson stopped the surge with a layup at 7:37, starting SPU on a 13-2 spree. Maddie Maloney capped that run with 4:13 remaining on a pair of free throws that gave the Falcons their largest lead at 53-35.
Hopkins scored nine straight HPU points to spark a late rally that closed the margin to 10 points, but the Falcons converted seen of 10 free throws during the final minute to secure the win.
Alaska Anchorage 69, Cal Poly Pomona 50
Hanna Johansson had 18 points and a career-high 10 rebounds to lead Alaska Anchorage past Cal Poly Pomona.
The Seawolves (24-4) – the two-time defending West Region champions – also got 17 points from junior guard Nikki Aden as they advanced to the second round for the fourth straight season.
The Broncos (22-7), seeded No. 5 in the eight-team regional, were led by 12 points and 11 rebounds from forward Stephisa Walton, but leading scorer and All-CCAA First Team guard Reyana Colson was held to 10 points on three of 15 shooting.
Johansson, who had the second-highest scoring game and the first double-double of her career, sparked a 10-0 run early in the second half that gave UAA the lead for good. The 6-2 Swede shot seen of 13 from the floor and buried 4 of 5 free throws.
“(Hanna) has really started to come into her own,” said UAA head coach Tim Moser. “We’re fortunate to have her for another couple years. I’m expecting her to be one of the best players in the GNAC, if not in the country in a couple years.”
The Seawolves led 8-2 early and held the advantage until Pomona scored the final basket of the first half to go up 32-30. After the Broncos scored on their opening possession, UAA switched to a zone defense that held the Southern California squad to just 18 points on 26 percent shooting in the final 20 minutes.
Aden, who scored 15 of her 17 points in the second half, hit the go-ahead three-pointer to make it 37-34 and added two dagger-like treys later in the stanza.
After UAA stretched to a 12-point advantage, Walter sliced it to 52-44 on a baseline jumper with 5:29 left. Aden was immediately fouled, however, and started a clinching 10-0 run with a pair of free throws on the next play.
The Seawolves made their first 19 free throws before finishing a solid 22 of 25 from the charity stripe. UAA also canned five of nine from long range in the second half as it got a huge lift off the bench from guard Leah Stepovich (7 points, 5 rebounds).
“Right now, teams are having a hard time guarding Hanna (Johansson) and Kelsie (Gourdin) and Nikki (Aden),” Moser said. “ It’s hard to guard them when our perimeter is making shots.”
Tamar Gruwell scored 13 points – including three three-pointers – and had four of UAA’s 11 steals, while Gourdin scored 10 points, shooting six of six from the free throw line.
Chico State 79, Western Washington 68
Center Jessica Summers had game-highs of 27 points and nine rebounds, but it wasn't enough as Western Washington fell to Chico State.
Guard Amanda Dunbar had 18 points and six assists and guard Ashley Fenimore added 10 points for the nationally 18th ranked Vikings, who finished their season with a 23-5 record.
Guards Synchro Bull and Natasha Smith each had 15 points for Chico State (22-9). Forward Christine Vest added 11 points and seven rebounds for the No.6 seed Wildcats, who won for the 14th time in their last 16 games.
Western had a three-point lead (64-61) after a basket by Summers with 5:39 left, but that proved to be the last Viking field goal of the game.
A layup by Natasha Richardson gave the Wildcats the lead for good at 65-64 with 4:24 to play. The Vikings were still down by only three (71-68) with under a minute left, but Bull scored with the shot clock running down to push the margin back to five, and Chico State then pulled away by hitting six straight free throws.
Western had led by eight points (50-42) with 16:37 to play after an 8-0 run that featured five points by Fenimore, but Chico State scored the next 10 points to take a 52-50 advantage with 14 minutes left.
The Vikings, who beat the Wildcats 80-59, in Bellingham on Dec. 20, entered Friday's game second nationally in both field-goal percentage (48.4) and three-point percentage (41.1), but shot just 37.3 percent (25-67) from the field, including 30.0 percent (six of 20) on three-pointers.
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