Friday, March 7, 2014

LACEY, Wash. – Erin Chambers scored 13 of her team-high 22 points in the second half as Simon Fraser knocked off top-seed Montana State Billings 85-74 in the semifinals of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball Championships Friday at Marcus Pavilion.

The win earned the Clan a rematch Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. with Western Washington for the GNAC title.  The winner will earn an automatic berth in the NCAA West Regionals. 

Last year SFU lost to the Vikings, who beat host Saint Martin's 81-71 in their semifinal game, in both the conference (60-40) and West Regional (75-58) championship games.

Despite MSUB’s loss, the Yellowjackets are assured of earning an at-large berth in the regionals.  They went into this weekend as the No. 1 ranked team in the region hoping to earn the host role.

Simon Fraser, the No. 3 ranked team in the region, is also virtually guaranteed a berth regardless of what happens Saturday.  Western Washington likely has the most to play for Saturday.  They'll probably need a win to extend their string of NCAA regional appearances to six.

Chambers ended the first half and then began the second half hitting three-pointers to snap a 35-35 tie and give SFU a six-point lead.

Later she had another key three extending a two-point lead to five (56-51) with 11:15 remaining.

MSUB, however, closed back to within one point at 58-57 with 9:17 remaining on a three-pointer by Bobbi Knudsen and two fouls shots by Kayleen Goggins.

This time it was Katie Lowen’s turn to hit the key trey for SFU and she did it on both ends of a 10-0 run.  In between Chambers and Lowen had two-pointers as SFU extended a one-point lead to 11. 

Later, MSUB climbed back to within five points twice, but couldn’t get any closer.

Chambers, who leads the GNAC in scoring with a 22.4 average, ended up making 9-of-16 shots, including 3-of-5 three-pointers.  She also had seven rebounds, four assists and two steals.

But, she had plenty of help in the victory.

“It was a good team effort,” SFU coach Bruce Langford said.  “We had five players in double figures and three or four with rebounds and we also had over 20 assists (21 total).”

Joining Chambers in the scoring parade were Lowen with 17 points, Meg Wilson with 13 and Chelsea Reist and Marie-Line Petit with 12 each.  Petit, who had 24 points in Wednesday's win over Seattle Pacific, also had nine rebounds and six assists.

Wilson, who hit 6-of-8 shots, also had eight rebounds, four assists and a game-high four steals.

Knudsen, the GNAC Player of the Year, led MSUB with 23 points and seven assists.  Chelsea Banis finished with 15 points, while Goggins had 14 points and 12 rebounds.  Alisha Breen chipped in with 10 points and eight boards.

MSUB played the game without forward Janiel Olson who has a knee injury.  Olson is the GNAC's leading rebounder averaging 10.4 per game.