March 27, 2008

Northern Kentucky Wins Defensive Battle, Advances to Title Game

Norse Hang on to Defeat Alaska Anchorage

   Kearney, Neb. –  The Northern Kentucky Norse held the Alaska Anchorage women's basketball team to 29 percent shooting and warmed up at the line in the second half to win a Division II national semifinal game, 57-54, late Thursday night at the Health & Sports Center.

      This was the fifth game of the 2008 Elite Eight, hosted by the University of Nebraska at Kearney. NKU (27-8), representing the Great Lakes Region, advances to Saturday's national championship game at 5:00 p.m.

      Aired live by ESPN 2, the Norse will face 3^rd-ranked South Dakota (33-1).

      In another tight Elite Eight contest, the UAA Seawolves (30-5) had a chance to send the game into overtime but a three pointer by Maria Nilsson (Northeast Neb. J.C.) with three seconds left hit iron. Alaska grabbed the offensive rebound but, fittingly, the ball didn't go in again.

      UAA was only 16 of 55 (29.1 percent) from the floor with star center Rebecca Kielpinski having a 1 of 12 shooting night. The cold shooting effort was from both inside and out as the Seawolves made only 3 of 16 three point shots (18.9 percent).

      Kielpinski did go 12 of 12 at the line, helping Alaska make 19 of 21 free shots. 

      NKU, which was a fourth seed in the Great Lakes, will be in the title game for the third time in school history. The Norse placed first in 2000 and was then runner up to South Dakota State in 2003.

      Northern Kentucky led for nearly the entire night but its lead never grew into double digits. Showing the defensive nature of this game, the Norse didn't score a single point in the first 6:20 of the second half.

      However, NKU's first second half bucket gave them a 28-26 lead. Later, a 9-0 run broke a 36 all tie and the Norse were just seven minutes away from another championship appearance.

      But, Alaska started to make some shots. A Kalhie Quinones (10 points, five rebounds) layup cut the NKU lead to three, 50-47, by the 2:36 mark. A three point play from reserve Dasha Basova (nine points) then allowed Alaska to trail by just two points, 54-52, about a 1:20 later.

      The play of the game came with about 20 seconds left. Clinging to a 56-54 lead, the Norse were running the shot clock down. Near mid court, reserve Karen Brackman almost got the ball stolen out of her hands but she quickly recovered and passed the ball to Jessie Slack (12 points).

      Slashing to the bucket, Slack got fouled and then finished the game's scoring by making one of two free throws. NKU made only 5 of its first 12 free shots but sunk 13 of its last 16.

      The Norse also shot 44.7 percent (17 of 38) from the field and managed to stay with Alaska on the glass. The Seawolves, West Region champions, won its first Elite Eight game on the strength of 29 offensive caroms but held only a 36-35 edge tonight.

      "What a great game.  Goodness gracious, it was a classic.  It'll probably be on ESPN Classic in about 3 hours," said veteran NKU head coach Nancy Winstel. "We're not a perfect team. We're going to throw the ball away some, but we are also going to make plays.  It was a great win for our program and for our young ladies."

      A balanced NKU attacked featured four starters in double digits. In addition to her point total, Slack had a team-high five steals and three assists with Danyelle Echoles scoring a team-high 13 points on 4 of 7 shooting.

      Next, guard Nicole Chiodi had 11 rebounds, nine points and four assists while post Angela Healy supplied 10 points and eight boards before fouling out. Finally, also picking up five fouls was Cassie Brannen (10 points, seven rebounds).

      "Any given night, somebody on our team can go off for 25 (points), but tonight we had 4 people in double figures and that’s happened multiple times for us this year," said Slack. "It's huge for us because we are so balanced and have many weapons, so it is really hard to defend us."

      Besides Kielpinski and Quinones, Alaska got a big effort from Ruby Williams (12 points, nine rebounds).     

      "I'm really proud of our kids.  I took this job two years ago and this group has done a tremendous job getting here.  We were in a pursuit of a championship but fell short," said UAA head coach Tim Moser. "When they started fouling out I thought that if we could just extend this game five more minutes, that we would have it going our way."