Sunday, March 11, 2012

Hanna Johansson led four players in double figures with a game-high 22 points as Alaska Anchorage earned a convincing 77-58 win over Grand Canyon in the semifinals of the NCAA Division II West Regional Women's Basketball Championships at RIMAC Arena in La Jolla, Calif., Saturday.

UAA (29-4) advances to Monday night's West Regional championship game versus top-seed UC San Diego (30-2) which eliminated Western Washington 81-66.

"We were fortunate to defeat a very good basketball team tonight," said UAA head coach Tim Moser. "I was really proud of our kids in the second half – we were the aggressors and we played to win, not to avoid losing.

"We did a good job of keeping them off the glass and made them earn everything."

The second-seeded Seawolves broke open a tight affair in the second half, outscoring the Antelopes 20-0 over a seven-minute period to go from trailing 42-37 at 15:05 to a 57-42 lead at 8:52.

Alysa Horn had 13 points on 5-of-5 shooting and six rebounds, Sasha King added 11 points and five steals and Kaylie Robison had 11 point.

Grand Canyon, which came into the game ranked No. 13 nationally and allowing a nation-leading 50.3 points per game, finished its season with a 24-4 record.

The Antelopes got a team-high 18 points from all-conference guard Maylinn Smith.

The Seawolves shot a sizzling 55 percent from the field and outrebounded the Antelopes 34-25 to advance to their third regional final in five seasons.

UAA was the West Region champion in 2008 and 2009, making it as far as the national semifinals both years.

UC San Diego 81, Western Washington 66

Center Britt Harris scored a career-high 23 points, but Western Washington couldn't overcome a big first-half by UC San Diego.

Guard Chelsea Carlisle, the Daktronics West Region Player of the Year, had 20 points and seven assists and center Lauren Freidenburg added 14 points, 12 in the first half, and grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds to lead the Tritons (30-2) to a 15-point win.

The Vikings led only once at 5-4 a little over two minutes into the game. UCSD then ran off eight straight points, and quickly extended the margin to 23-9 with 11:42 left in the first half.

The Tritons, who also got 19 points from guard Daisy Feder, held a 50-27 lead at halftime, scoring16 points off 13 WWU turnovers.

Western Washington battled back in the second half, holding UCSD to 31.8 percent (7-of-22) shooting from the floor.

WWU pulled within 11 (77-66) on a layin by Erika Ramstead with 2:32 to go, but didn't score again.

Harris was 11-of-13 from the field and had a team-high eight rebounds. Kristin Schramm, WWU's lone senior, completed her collegiate career with 21 points, hitting five three-pointers.