Box score, play-by-play
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SEATTLE -- Melissa Reich certainly has had her moments in a Seattle Pacific basketball uniform. And she has been having more and more of them this winter.
But during the course of 72 hours from last Friday to Monday night in the NCAA Division II West Regional women's tournament, Reich strung together the most timely stretch of those moments in her three-year Falcon career.
Reich put 10 points and 11 rebounds into the books -- her second double-double in three tournament games, and her fourth of the season -- and sophomore guard Jordan Harazin rang up a career-high 17 points, as SPU expunged the memory of two straight regional title-game losses and earned a spot in the Elite Eight with a 76-68 victory against Chico State in Brougham Pavilion.
Seattle Pacific (27-3), the top seed in the West Region, won its 14th consecutive game and punched tickets to St. Joseph, Mo., for next week's culmination of the national tournament. The Falcons will open Elite Eight play next Tuesday, March 23, against Fort Lewis College of Durango, Colo. Fort Lewis (33-3) won the Central Region championship on Monday night by downing Concordia-St. Paul, 73-64.
The semifinals are on March 24, and the championship game is March 26.
Reich, who also had a double-double of 15 points and 11 boards in Friday's 65-52 first-round victory against Hawaii Pacific, was named the Most Valuable Player of the regional tourney. She averaged 12.3 points and 9.0 rebounds while shooting 65 percent from the field (15 of 23) in SPU's three victories.
“This is pretty much like my breakout tournament,” said Reich (Bellevue, Wash./Bellevue Christian HS), a 6-foot-2 junior center. “All my hard work finally paid off. I give a lot of credit to the team and the coaching staff. They've been pushing me really hard every day at practice, calling me out. They've been able to pull out the best in me. It came out at the right time.”
Added coach Julie van Beek, who is off to her first Elite Eight since taking the Seattle Pacific reins in 2005, “Melissa has persevered. She has had some really great moments, but it was just getting that consistency. For us to continue to advance, we need people to step up, and Melissa has bee the key. You can't have an outside game if you don't have an inside game.”
SPU earned its fourth Elite Eight berth and its first under fifth-year coach Julie van Beek. The Falcons lost in the quarterfinal round in 1998 and 2004. They reached the NCAA championship game in 2005 before falling 70-53 to Washburn.
They've had chances the past two years, but fell 50-44 to Alaska Anchorage in the 2008 regional final, and 54-42 to those same Seawolves in 2009.
“I'm still a little bit in awe,” van Beek said, starting to turn emotional. “I had tears streaming down my face. We've worked really hard. Last year (on the day of the regional final against Alaska Anchorage), we had three kids in the emergency room getting IVs. Not to take anything away from what Anchorage did, but we didn't have the opportunity to put our best team on the floor. Two years ago, we win every game (SPU brought a 29-0 record to the West final), then lose the one you want the most.
“To win tonight was huge.”
Added senior guard Daesha Henderson (Snohomish, Wash./Snohomish HS), who joined Reich on the all-tournament team, “It's something that you go to college, and you always have the goal of making it to the Elite Eight. To lose two consecutive years on your home court to the same team, it hurts. You remember that feeling coming into the tournament.
“It hasn't really settled in yet that we won and we're going to the Elite Eight.”
BIG LEAD BEFORE CHICO'S COMEBACK
The Falcons led by as many as 16 points during the first half, going ahead 38-22 on a three-point play by Reich 2:34 before halftime.
Courtney Harrison nailed three shots from 3-point range during the final 2:20 of the half to ignite an 11-2 closing surge that drew Chico within 40-33 by halftime.
The Wildcats continued that run after intermission, scoring seven straight points to tie the score at 40-40. Synchro Bull opened the half with a free throw, Pauline Ferrall hit consecutive baskets and Bull made a lay-up with 17:22 left to play to forge the game's first deadlock.
Junior reserve forward Caitlyn Rohrbach (Edmonds, Wash./Meadowdale HS) halted the rally with a jump hook at 16:25 and Megan Hoisington followed with a putback that put SPU ahead for good.
“Coming out of halftime, we made some adjustments as far as communicating better and doing things better that we can control, and we did that, especially on defense,” said senior forward Hoisington (Bremerton, Wash./Central Kitsap HS), who contributed 11 points, seven rebounds and a blocked shot.
Midway through the second half, the Falcons extended the margin back into double digits with a run of 12 unanswered points during a four-minute span. Rohrbach played a part in the final seven points of the spree. She made a lay-up and a 3-pointer before passing to a cutting Maddie Maloney, whose lay-up made the score 56-42 in the Falcons' favor with 10:57 remaining.
The Wildcats never came closer than seven points the rest of the way.
“Our bench was awesome,” said Henderson, who tallied just five points, but pulled down six rebounds, handed out four assists, came up with five steals -- and even blocked a shot on a Chico State fast break with 2:14 remaining, then stole the ensuing inbounds pass that ultimately led to a lay-in by Hoisington and a 69-59 lead with 2:00 left. “They're in the gym working hard every day for extra hours, and it pays off.”
HELP FROM EVERYONE
Harazin converted 6 of 7 free throws during the final 1:17 to secure the win. For the night, she hit 10 of 12 from the line on the way to her career-high of 17. Nyesha Sims came off the bench to score 12 points for SPU and grabbed a career-high nine rebounds. The Falcons also got 11 points from Rohrbach.
“It's a great balanced victory. That shows how far our team came this year,” van Beek said. “At the beginning of the year, if Daesha and Megan weren't contributing, we really struggled. And they had to be our leading scorers every night. It's fun to see so many different people contributing. And it's fun to score 76 points.”
Thanks in large part to Reich, who grabbed eight of her boards in the first half Monday (including SPU's first three defensive rebounds of the night), the Falcons had a commanding 49-30 rebound advantage for the game. SPU capitalized on its dominance on the glass, netting 21 second-chance points to just 10 for Chico.
Melissa Richardson tallied 15 points to pace the No. 6-seeded Wildcats, who completed their season with a 23-10 record. Natasha Smith added 12 points for CSU and Harrison finished with 11.
The Wildcats claimed their only lead of the night, at 2-1, on a basket by Ferrall 2:19 into the game. SPU scored the next six points, opening with two free throws by Henderson, who capped the run with a lay-up.
Henderson and Reich were joined on the West Region all-tournament team by Chico State's Smith, Hanna Johansson from Alaska Anchorage, and Andrea Bobic from Humboldt State.
The Falcons are in the middle of winter quarter finals, which began on Monday and continue today. But they're also setting their sights forward to next week.
“All three of us have been through getting to the regional championship the last two years and losing, and we know that feeling,” Hoisington said. “This feeling is great. I'm really happy that after celebrating tonight, we can move on and look forward to coming on strong when we go out to Missouri.”
