Women's Basketball
Women's Basketball
Women's NSIC Tournament Semifinals: SCSU 66, WSU 58
WOMEN'S BAKETBALL: Championship Bound
Saturday, March 7, 2009
The sixth seeded Husky women knocked off second seeded Winona State to advance to the NSIC Tournament Championship game. |
Winona, Minn. - The St. Cloud State women's basketball team is headed to the championship game of the 2009 NSIC/Sanford Health Women's Basketball Tournament. The Huskies beat #2 seed and tourney host Winona State 66-58 this afternoon.
St. Cloud State sophomore Rachel Booth (Minneapolis) tallied a double double and senior guard Katie Tacheny (Woodbury) made four free throws in the final :30 seconds to give the Huskies the 66-58 win. The sixth seeded Huskies advance to the championship game and will play the winner of the Augustana College/Concordia, St. Paul semifinal to be played at 5:00 p.m. this evening.
"It came down to our kids knocking down shots and making plays," said St. Cloud State head coach Lori Fish." The Huskies improved to 21-8 on the season while the Warriors are 23-6 overall. "I am so happy for this group. They worked so hard. They earned this and deserve it," added Fish.
The Huskies will be playing for their first conference championship since sharing the 1989 North Central Conference title.
Booth recorded her third double double of the season and fourth of her career, making eight of 14 field goal attempts and collecting ten defensive rebounds. Tacheny made her final four free throws after dislocating her pinky on her non-shooting hand and finished the game eight of eight from the free throw line and finished with 19 points, including three three-point baskets. Sophomore guard Talisha Barlow (Little Canada) added 12 points and eight rebounds. St. Cloud State shot 35.5 percent from the field, 41.2 percent from three-point range and 83.3 percent from the free throw line. The Huskies out rebounded WSU 44-33 in the game.
Winona State was led by Kelsey Homewood with 15 points and three three-point baskets. Ana Wurtz and Jenny Steffen added 12 points each. Michelle McDonald finished the game with seven points and ten rebounds. The Warriors shot 38.2 percent from the field, 27.8 percent from beyond the arc and 68.8 percent from the free throw line.
An Ana Wurtz layup with 1:22 left in the game closed the Husky lead to 60-57 but Rachel Booth answered with a layup for the Huskies to put the lead back to five points, 62-57. Tacheny went to the line with :29 seconds left and made two free throws. She went back to the line with 15 seconds left and made two more to secure the win.
After a combined 0 of seven start, St. Cloud State’s Krystal Scott found the bottom of the net at the 17:29 mark for the opening basket of the game. Baskets by Jamie Majerowicz and Molly Anderson gave the Warriors an early 4-2 lead. Back to back jumpers by Rachel Booth gave the Huskies a four point lead, 16-14 at 8:08 but a Kelsey Homewood three pulled the Warriors to within one at 16-15 with 7:40 on the clock.
Another Homewood basket gave the Warriors a brief one point lead at 6:39. Anna Cashman answered for the Huskies with three point basket to regain the lead for the Huskies and SCSU led 19-17. Majerowicz scored for the Warriors to tie the game at 19-19 with 4:12 left.
Katie Tacheny went on to score eight of the Huskies final ten points of the half and St. Cloud State took the largest lead of the game into half time with a 29-23 lead.
Tacheny led all players with 11 first half points and Rachel Booth led the game with six rebounds. The Huskies shot 36.4 percent from the field and Anna Cashman tallied her 100th career three-point basket becoming the seventh player in SCSU women’s hoops to reach the century mark.
Winona State was led by Molly Anderson with six points and five rebounds. The Warriors shot 36.5 percent from the field and made one of eight three-point attempts.
The second half started in the same manner as the first half as both teams combined for zero of six shooting in the first two and half minutes until WSU’s Michelle McDonald nailed a jumper at the 17:37 mark. Ana Wurtz scored a basket and Homewood hit a three and the Husky lead was 31-30 with 15:41 on the clock.
The Warriors and Huskies played a closely contested half as Winona State tied the game at 35-35 on a Bonnie Bjorke put back at the 13:14 mark. The Huskies took a four point lead on a Talisha Barlow free throw at the midway mark of the half. Two free throws by Booth and St. Cloud State led 45-40 with 7:47 on the clock.
Rachel Booth forced the Warriors to call a time out after hitting a three from the top of the key to give the Huskies their largest lead of the game 48-41 at 6:56. The Husky lead increased to nine, 50-41, on a Barlow basket at 5:45.
Winona State had an answer in back to back three’s by Wurtz and Kelsey Homewood, and two Homewood free throws and the Husky lead had fallen to one point, 50-49 at 4:08.
A jumper by Barlow put the Husky lead back to three and a Danielle Ellison layup with 2:11 on the clock increased the lead to 58-51. Winona fought back with a three from Jenny Steffen and the score was 58-54 with under two minutes to play. Tacheny went to the free throw line for two of her final six free throws at 1:38.
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