Friday, March 6, 2015

BILLINGS, Mont. - Guard Katie Colard poured in a career-high 34 points as Western Washington overcame a 14-point second-half deficit to claim a 72-67 overtime victory over Seattle Pacific Friday  in a semifinal game of the GNAC Women's Basketball Championships at Alterowitz Gymnasium.

The Vikings, the No.3 seed in the tourney, improved to 21-8 and now face the winner of Friday's second semifinal between No.4 seed Simon Fraser and top seed and NCAA Division II No.1-ranked Alaska Anchorage in the championship game Saturday at 5:15 (Mountain time). The winner earns an automatic berth in next week’s NCAA Division II West Regional.

Seattle Pacific, the No.2 seed and ranked No. 20 in this week’s USA Today Sports Top 25, fell to 21-6 despite 24 points and nine rebounds by Aubree Callen.

WWU trailed by 14 points (50-36) with 11:32 remaining, but used an 18-6 charge - 11 by Colard - to pull to within two points (56-54)  with five minutes left.

The Falcons pushed their lead back to 62-56 inside the final 90 seconds, but Western scored the final six points of regulation to force overtime, tying the score on Colard’s driving layin with 12 seconds left.

Western Washington then scored the first six points of overtime, four of them by Sydney Donaldson, who had been held scoreless in regulation.  Callen responded with five straight points to pull the Falcons within one (68-67) with 1:04 left, but Tia Briggs scored in the paint, and then Donaldson provided the final margin on two free throws with 21 seconds left.

“I was so proud of our team and how it stepped up, stayed strong and did it together,” said WWU head coach Carmen Dolfo, who has a 515-191 record in 24 seasons.  “Katie (Colard) was awesome, totally taking over the game and getting us going on that run.”

Colard finished 12 of 22 from the field, including 6-of-11 on 3-pointers. Her six 3-pointers gave her a GNAC and school-record 257 for her career, one more than Amanda Dunbar (2007-11). The 34 points tie Colard for seventh for a single game in WWU history and are the second-highest mark in the last five seasons.

“I wasn’t ready to be done yet,” said Colard, “and everybody (on the team) felt the same way.”

The Vikings started quickly, jumping to a 9-0 lead in the first 2:30 of the contest, but SPU rallied and took a 33-24 halftime lead as WWU hit just 6-of-24 shots from the field the rest of the period.

The Falcons, who defeated the Vikings in both regular-season meetings this season, then extended the gap early in the second half, leading by 14 for the first time at 42-28 with 15:52 to play.

Jenni White had 13 points for WWU, which shot 50 percent (18-of-36) from the floor after halftime.  Suzanna Ohlsen scored 13 to join Callen in double figures for SPU.

The Vikings will be seeking their third straight GNAC tourney title on Saturday, and have now reached the championship game in all five years the event has been held.