Lady Jackets’ Season Ends at Regional
Top Seeded Falcons Use Second Half Surge to Pull Away
Box Score

SEATTLE, WA – Kevin Woodin’s crew knew they were facing a good team when they drew the Seattle Pacific Falcons in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.  The Yellowjackets needed to play one of their best games of the season, but a cold shooting night was too much to overcome. 

Seattle Pacific, ranked fourth nationally, used a 26-4 run midway through the second half to pull away for a 71-47 win and advance to the regional semifinals Saturday.  The Falcons will face fourth-seeded St. Martins which defeated Cal State-Bakersfield, 73-65, earlier on Friday.  SPU won for the 85^th time in its last 89 home games at Royal Braugham Pavilion.

“I felt it would be important to get off to a good start,” said Yellowjacket head coach Kevin Woodin after the game.  “We got down 12-2 early on and that hurt.  I think we had some jitters.  We talked about it before the game, but until you get in that situation it’s hard to tell how your kids will react.”

The Falcons’ 12-2 run to start the game was assisted by ice cold shooting from the Yellowjackets.  MSUB shot just a combined 7-of-29 in the first half, including 0-of-9 from 3-point range.  The Jackets were able to trim the lead to 12-6 before SPU ran off 10 straight points to open a 22-6 advantage.

The Jackets were able to cut the lead to single digits just once more in the game on a 3-point play by senior Robyn Milne in the paint with 9:07 remaining in the half.  MSUB trailed 26-15 at the 4:49 point after long scoring droughts by both teams.  The Falcons were able to inflate that 11 point lead into a 17 point halftime advantage with an 11-5 run to close the half. 

“I thought we settled down about midway through the first half.  The critical part of the game was the last three or four minutes of the half.  We wanted to get their lead down to ten points by halftime, but they were able to get a couple baskets.  You have to give them credit.  They’re the most talented and deepest team we’ve played all year.”

The Jackets’ plan from the start of the game was to let post players Milne and Tanya Petersen have a lot of touches.  The tandem combined for the team’s first 13 points of the second half, including a pair of Petersen 3-pointers.  Petersen’s layup with 13:43 to play cut the Falcons’ lead to just 12 at 45-33. 

“I was very proud of our team in the second half,” added Woodin.  “We came out focused and were able to get the lead down to 12.  Give Seattle Pacific credit.  They hit their shots and got a lot of points from their bench.”

The Falcons’ bench took control of the game at that point, sparking a 26-4 run that blew the game open.  A Quin Brewe jumper for SPU put the exclamation point on the run, giving the Falcons a 34 point lead and a date in the regional semis. 

Michelle Beaumont was the catalyst for the Falcons in the second half.  She came off the bench to score 13 of her team-high 18 points in the second half, including three of her four 3-pointers.  She was 7-of-10 from the field. 

Despite the Jackets’ second half run, the Falcons still held them below 50 points for the first time this season.  MSUB’s 47 points were the fewest by an SPU opponent in the Falcons’ NCAA Tournament history.  Jenny Poe added 11 points for the Falcons, nine of which came in the first half.  Amy Taylor added 10 points.  Six-foot-4 center Brittney Kroon grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds and blocked seven shots.  Brewe added nine points.

The Jackets were led by Petersen’s 22 points, 18 coming in the second stanza.  She was 0-of-6 from the field in the first half, but hit 7-of-11 in the second.  Milne closed out her career with a double-double of 12 points and 16 rebounds.  She also blocked four shots to finish with a school-record 278 blocked shots, 13^th in NCAA Division II history.

 “Overall our players need to be proud of the season they had,” said Woodin.  “Right now it’s easy to focus on this loss, but we should really focus on the season we had.  To make the regional tournament as an independent, that’s something our players can hang their hats on.  It takes stability and patience to be one of the top teams in the country.  Hopefully we’ve taken the first steps toward that.”

This will be the Yellowjackets’ final West Region appearance as they switch conferences and regions next year.  They will play in the Heartland Conference, which competes in the South Central Region.