Wednesday, March 4, 2015

BILLINGS, Mont. - Fourth-seed Simon Fraser rallied from an eight-point second half deficit to defeat Saint Martin's 64-56 Wednesday and advance to Friday's 2:15 p.m. semifinal game in the GNAC Women's Basketball Championships at Alterowitz Gymnasium.

The Clan (15-12) will take on the nation's No. 1 ranked team Alaska Anchorage in their semifinal.  The Seawolves bring a 27-1 record and a 15-game winning streak into the contest.  Their only loss this year has been to Northwest Nazarene on New Year's Day in Anchorage. 

Saint Martin's led by five at halftime (32-27) and opened up a 40-32 lead with 17:02 left on a basket by Megan Wiedeman.  SFU,however, then ran off 10 straight points to go ahead 42-40 and then finally took the lead for good at 50-48 on a layup by Rachel Fradgley with 8:33 remaining.

Fradgley (14 points, 11 rebounds) and Meg Wilson (11 points, 15 rebounds) finished the contests with double-doubles and Katie Lowen and Erin Chambers netted 20 and 16 points, respectively,  to pace SFU.

Krista Stabler led the Saints (11-16) with 19 points, while Liz Mills and Elin Johansson had 10 each.  Wiedeman scored eight points and had a team-high 13 rebounds.

Following Fradgley's go-ahead basket, Saint Martin's kept it close, pulling to within one point (55-54) on two free throws by Liz Mills with 2:42 left, but Fradgley countered at the other end 12 seconds later making two foul shots with 2:30 left.

Wiedeman then had a three-pointer to tie the game, but she missed and Lowen countered with a trey with 1:43 left to double the SFU lead to six points.  Mills' jumper cut the SFU lead back to four, but the Clan then scored the game's final four points in the final minute on a basket by Fradgley and two free throws by Chambers.

Neither team shot the ball particularly well as the Saints made just 19 of 62 (30.6) and were one of 12 from beyond the arc.  SFU made 22 of 62 (35.5) and connected on six of 22 three-pointers. 

The Clan also outrebounded the Saints 42-34 and had seven blocks, including three by Fradgley, who made six of her 10 shots.

Friday's two semifinal winners - the first semifinal will match second-seed Seattle Pacific and third-seed Western Washington - will advance to Saturday's 5:15 p.m. championship game.  That winner earns an automatic berth in next week's NCAA West Regional.