Women's Basketball
Women's Basketball
Women's NSIC Championship: SCSU 53, CU 41
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: NSIC Champions!!!
Sunday, March 8, 2009
The Husky women's basketball team after winning the NSIC/Sanford Health Women's Basketball Championship |
Winona, Minn. – The sixth seeded St. Cloud State University women’s basketball team claimed the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament Championship with a 53-41 win over eighth seeded Concordia, St. Paul University Sunday afternoon (Mar. 8) in Winona.
The Huskies used a solid defensive performance and a double double from the NSIC Tournament Most Outstanding Player Rachel Booth (Minneapolis) to put away the Golden Bears and earn automatic qualification to the NCAA Division II Central Region Tournament which begins next Friday. The site and pairings for the NCAA Tournament will be announced at 8:00 p.m. tonight.
The Huskies improved to 22-8 on the season while Concordia, St. Paul is 21-12 overall. The Golden Bears had won three championship titles and played in five championship games over the last six seasons.
The conference championship is the first for the Huskies since winning the 1989 North Central Conference Championship. It marks the sixth conference title in the history of women’s basketball at St. Cloud State.
"I am so happy for our team. They have worked so hard and battled through all the ups and downs of the season. They really deserve to be in the national tournament," said head coach Lori Fish.
Booth led the Huskies with her second double double of the tournament scoring 14 points and bringing in 12 rebounds. Ten of those rebounds were on the defensive end of the cournt. Ths also had three steals and one block in the championship game.
Senior guard Katie Tacheny (Woodbury) and sophomore guard Talisha Barlow (Little Canada) were also named to the five member All-Tournament team. Candace Olstad and Jamie Jones of Concordia, St. Paul round out the five member All-Tournament team.
Tacheny scored 12 points and added eight rebounds in the winning effort. She made five free throws in the final 1:38 of the game. Barlow had nine points and 11 rebounds. Senior guard Krystal Scott (Rosemount) had a career high nine rebounds. The Huskies had a season high 53 rebounds and out rebounded the Golden Bears 53-41. St. Cloud State shot 25.9 percent from the field.
Concordia, St. Paul was led by Candace Olstad with nine points and ten rebounds. Shandrell Duncan added seven points, eight rebounds, and three blocked shots. The Golden Bears shot 27.9 percent from the field.
In a slow start to a championship game in which both teams shot less than 25 percent in the first half, the Huskies suppressed Concordia, St. Paul with a pressure defense, as the Golden Bears made three of 16 field goal attempts in the first 12 minutes.
By the end of the half, St. Cloud State was shooting 21.9 percent from the field and CSP 23.3 percent as both teams combined for 14 of 62 shooting from the field. The bright spot for the Huskies was Rachel Booth who scored ten first half points.
Booth and senior guard Anna Cashman (Faribault) scored the first ten Husky points of the game as the Huskies climbed to a 12-3 lead.
The Golden Bears went on a 7-0 run with a Shandrell Duncan layup and free throw that pulled CSP to 12-10. A Candace Olstad three at the 5:44 mark gave the Golden Bears their first lead of the half, 13-12.
Booth answered with her patented move under the basket to regain the lead 14-13.Booth scored again to up the Husky lead to 16-13 at the 3:31 mark. Barlow finished off a long pass and the Husky lead was back to five, 18-13.
Jamie Jones answered for the Golden Bears to keep the score within three points, and a Duncan jumper at the free throw line put CSP within one, 18-17. Concordia, St. Paul held the ball for the final shot of the half and when the attempt failed the Huskies had a chance to scored the final basket but did not get a shot off, and the Huskies took an 18-17 lead into half time.
A Tacheny three 20 seconds into the second half gave the Huskies a 21-17 lead until Duncan answered with a jumper and the lead was two points for the Huskies.
A Candace Olstad put back on her own miss tied the game 21-21 at 17:43. A Krystal Scott free throw and a fast break jumper put the Huskies ahead 24-21. Two free throws from Talisha Barlow stretched the lead to 26-21. The Huskies had another five point lead 31-25 after Tacheny made two free throws following a CSP bench technical.
After some back and forth play, in which the Huskies held four and five point leads, CSP pulled to within three at 3:43, 41-38. Booth knocked down two free throws at the 3:31 mark to put SCSU up 43-38 and then came up with a defensive rebound on the other end of the court.
A Danielle Ellison drive at the 2:20 mark increased the Husky lead to 45-38. On the Huskies next offensive sequence Ellison was fouled and made two free throws with under two minutes to play, giving SCSU a 47-38 lead. St. Cloud State ended the game on a 12-0 run and went to the free throw line ten times in the final two minutes and converted on eight attempts to secure the 53-41 win and the 2009 NSIC/SANFORD HEALTH TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONSHIP.
Free E-Mail Updates
If you would like FREE e-mail updates about SCSU athletics, visit our Husky Sports Updates page for information on how to sign up to be on the listserv.
