March 11, 2011

Box Score

POMONA, Calif. - A great season came to a sudden end Friday as Western Washington University fell to University of Alaska Anchorage, 55-48, in an opening-round women's basketball game of the NCAA Division II West Regional between two top 15 nationally ranked teams Friday at Kellogg Gymnasium on the campus of host Cal Poly Pomona.

The Vikings, No.14 in the Women's Basketball Coaches Association/USA Today/ESPN/NCAA Division II Top 25 and the No.4 seed, completed their season 26-4, closing the campaign with two straight losses to UAA. Guard Megan Pinske (Sr., Coquitlam, BC/Port Moody) led Western with 12 points, and forward Gabby Wade (Sr., Lacey/River Ridge) added 11.

Alaska Anchorage, ranked No.12 nationally and the No.5-seed, improved to 27-6 overall with its sixth straight victory. Guard Kaitlin McBride had a game-high 22 points for the Seawolves, who have won 13 times in their last 15 games, with both losses coming against Western.

The Vikings had a seven-point lead at halftime, but hit just two of their first 16 shots from the field in the second half, notching only five points in the first 14 minutes and falling behind, 43-34, with six minutes to play.

Western did rally, and pulled within three, 46-43, on a Pinske layup with 2:43 to play. The Vikings were still within four, 50-46, with just under a minute to go, and forced a UAA miss with the shot clock running down, but Kaylie Robison grabbed the rebound for the Seawolves, was fouled, and made one of two free throws. The margin was never less than five points after that.

UAA had a 49-42 advantage in rebounding, grabbing 23 offensive rebounds.

"We got killed on the boards," said Western coach Carmen Dolfo (20th year). "We gave up over 20 offensive rebounds. We knew that was the name of the game and we just weren't able to do it."

UAA center Hanna Johansson grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds and scored 15 points, and Robison had 10 boards.

Western being ranked 14th nationally in scoring defense (55.1) and UAA third (53.1) was reflected in Friday's game. The Vikings shot just 29.6 percent (16-of-54) from the field and their 48 points were a season-low. The Seawolves shot only 31.3 percent (20-of-64).

"It's a tough loss, but I want to keep focusing on what a great job our players have done," said Dolfo. "We've had a great year."

Western used a 10-2 run in a little over four minutes, with eight of the points on free throws, to lead 19-8 with 7:16 left in the first half. The Vikings improved that advantage to as many as 12 points on three occasions, the last, 26-14, with 2:37 to go in the period. But UAA closed the half with an 8-3 charge that included two 3-pointers by Kylie Burns, the only UAA treys of the game, to narrow the gap to 29-22 at halftime.

UAA missed its first 10 field-goal attempts and finished 9-of-35 (25.7 percent) from the floor in the first half. Western shot just 37.5 percent (9-of-24), but made 9-of-11 free throws (81.8 percent)

McBride, who played at Western in the 2007-08 season, keyed UAA's second-half charge, scoring 18 of her points after halftime.

The Vikings, who won both regular-season matchups with the Seawolves, lost to UAA in the championship game of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Tournament, a loss that snapped Western's 26-game home winning streak.

It was the 12th national tournament appearance for Western in 13 years as a NCAA member.

The game was the last for four Viking seniors - Pinske, Wade, center Lauren Hefflin (Ridgefield), who had eight points and 11 rebounds, and guard Amanda Dunbar (Marysville/Marysville-Pilchuck), who finished her four-year career with 1,654 points and became just the second player in school history and the first in 30 years to lead Western in scoring for four seasons.

Vikings' season comes to an end

MICHELLE GARDNER - THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

POMONA, Calif. - The Western Washington University women's basketball team found out what can happen when you let a team off the hook in the first half. You can lose.

So it went for the Vikings, who squandered a 12-point first-half lead and lost to GNAC foe Alaska-Anchorage 55-48 on Friday, March 11, in an NCAA Division II quarterfinal at Kellogg Gymnasium on the campus of Cal Poly Pomona.

It was the fifth year the Vikings have lost in the regional quarterfinal.

"It's hard and frustrating, especially for our four seniors,'' Western Washington coach Carmen Dolfo said. "We knew what we had to do and we just didn't do it.''

No. 14 Western Washington (26-4) had won both regular season meetings between the teams rather easily, 81-61 and 67-57. No. 12 Anchorage (27-6) exacted some revenge beating the Vikings in the GNAC Tournament championship game 68-67 just last week.

Some teams don't like seeing such a familiar foe in the first round of the playoffs but the Vikings welcomed the challenge.

"We were excited about playing them,'' senior Gabby Wade said. "It's always such a competitive, physical game. That's the best way to play. You're fighting for what you want. They're fighting for what they want.''

Both teams struggled in the opening half, although it was Anchorage faring worse. The Seawolves shot just 25.7 percent (9 for 35) with that improving considerably after they made three of their last four field goal attempts in the last two minutes.

Western Washington shot slightly better at 37.5 (9 for 24). Its biggest lead was 12 points, that coming at 22-10 after a 3-pointer by Megan Pinske with 4:18 left. It led 29-22 at the half.

"We were happy only being down by seven,'' Seawolves coach Tim Moser said. "That's a team capable of scoring 80, 90 points so the lower scoring game was in our favor.''

The second half was all Seawolves. They tied the game at 31 on a jumper by Kaitlin McBride and took their first lead of the contest since 1-0 on a McBride layup.

It was an eight-minute scoring drought that proved costly for the GNAC regular season champion. Lauren Hefflin scored to cut Anchorage's led to 37-33 with 14:11 to go. Then came the eight-minute drought. It could have been worse because Anchorage didn't score much in that stretch either.

The slump finally ended when Wade hit one of two free throws with 6:11 left to cut the deficit to 41-34.

It was all uphill after that.

"We just got tentative in that stretch,'' Dolfo said. "The more the shots didn't fall, the more tentative we got. One of the things that got us this far is that we work together. I think in that drought we started to play too much individually.''

Western Washington ended up shooting 29.6 percent (16 for 54), after a 23 percent (7 for 30) in the second half. Pinske's 12 led the Vikings while Wade was next with 11. Wade also grabbed nine rebounds and blocked two shots.

Anchorage shot 31.3 percent (20 for 64) for the game and was led by McBride with 22 and Hanna Johnansson with 15 points.

The rebounding differential was also a key as the bigger Seawolves finished with a 49-42 advantage on the boards with 23 of those coming on the offensive boards.

"It's tough for us because we have Gabby (Wade) at forward at 5-9 so we're mismatched,'' Dolfo added. ``They are physical and relentless on the boards so give credit to them.''