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SEATTLE -- Daesha Henderson scored 16 points, and swished six free throws in the last 76 seconds of the game, then Nyesha Sims clinched it with two free throws with 6.8 seconds to go as Seattle Pacific advanced to the championship game of the NCAA Division II West Regional women’s basketball tournament on Saturday night by defeating Alaska Anchorage 52-48 in Brougham Pavilion.
The Great Northwest Athletic Conference champion Falcons (26-3), seeded No. 1 in the region, went on a 9-3 run to close out the game. They will face No. 6 seed Chico State for the West Region title on Monday at 7 p.m. in Brougham Pavilion. Chico rallied for an 86-76 win over Humboldt State in Saturday’s first semifinal.
Monday’s winner will advance to the Elite Eight, Mar. 23-26 in St. Joseph, Mo.
The Falcons lost to Anchorage in the previous two regional championship games, both of them at Brougham Pavilion.
Saturday night’s victory was SPU’s third straight this year against the Seawolves after sweeping the two GNAC regular-season games.
Megan Hoisington and Melissa Reich added 12 points apiece for the Falcons.
Alaska Anchorage (24-5) was led by the 11 points of Nicci Miller. No one else was in double figures for the Seawolves.
SPU was down 45-43 with 1:16 left when Henderson went to the line and hit both. Reich hit 1 of 2 with 50.9 seconds remaining to put the Falcons up, 46-45.
Henderson missed a pair at the 37.6-second mark, but Reich rebounded the second miss. Henderson was fouled and hit both at 28.7 seconds to make it a 48-45 Falcon lead.
Anchorage’s Nikki Aden hit 1 of 2 foul shots at 18.9 seconds to make it 48-46. Henderson was fouled and drained both to make it 50-46 at 15.4 seconds. Aden drove for a lay-in with 8.2 seconds left, cutting it to 50-48.
Then Sims was fouled in backcourt, and, after having gone 0 for 4 at the line earlier, hit both to put the Falcons up 52-48.
SPU’s last 11 points came on free throws. The Falcons went 11 of 14 at the line in the final four minutes of the game.
NCAA Division II Women’s Basketball Tournament
West Regional Semifinal
Brougham Pavilion/Seattle, Wash.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Seattle Pacific 52, Alaska Anchorage 48
ALASKA ANCHORAGE (24-5)
Aden 3-10 1-2 8; Gourdin 3-9 2-3 8; Johansson 2-8 3-4 7; Gruwell 3-7 0-0 9; McBride 1-3 0-0 2; Miller 4-12 2-2 11; Stepovich 1-5 0-0 3; Herrin 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-54 8-11 48.
SEATTLE PACIFIC (26-3)
Hoisington 5-11 1-2 12; Maloney 0-3 0-1 0; Reich 5-7 2-3 12; Harazin 0-6 1-2 1; Henderson 4-8 6-8 16; Sims 2-3 2-6 7; Rohrbach 0-4 2-2 2; Murray 0-1 2-2 2; Gorman 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-43 16-26 52.
Alaska Anchorage.............. 19 29 - 48
Seattle Pacific..................... 26 26 - 52
3-point goals--UAA 6-21 (Gruwell 3-6; Aden 1-5; Stepovich 1-5; Miller 1-4; McBride 0-1), SPU 4-18 (Henderson 2-5; Hoisington 1-4; Sims 1-2; Murray 0-1; Harazin 0-3; Maloney 0-2; Rohrbach 0-1).
Fouled out--UAA-Johansson; Gourdin, SPU-None.
Rebounds--UAA 37 (Miller 9), SPU 37 (Hoisington 8; Sims 8).
Assists--UAA 8 (Aden 3; Johansson 3), SPU 13 (Henderson 5).
Total fouls--UAA 26, SPU 19.
Technical fouls--UAA-None, SPU-None.
Att.-551.