Cal Baptist 77, Hawaii Pacific 69
Cal Baptist scored nine of the game's final 10 points to eke out a 77-69 win over Hawaii Pacific to become the third straight underdog winner Friday in the first round of the NCAA Division II West Region tournament.
The game was tied 68-68 at the Alaska Airlines Center before Cal Baptist broke away. The Lancers (25-6) were the fifth seeded team in the eight-team tournament and Hawaii Pacific, which ended the season with a 23-5 record, was seeded fourth. The Sharks were the third straight higher seed to fall Friday.
Cal Baptist, the runner-up in the Pac West Conference, advanced to Saturday's semifinals against eighth-seeded Point Loma, which upset top-ranked UAA 64-63 in Saturday's nightcap.
Courtney Nelson's 24 points led a group of four double-figure scores for Cal Baptist. Kamille Diaz added 15, Chanel Cambronero 11 and Erin Asher 10 for the Lancers, who survived 22 turnovers by shooting 49.2 percent. The Lancers buried nine of 20 shots from 3-point range.
Hawaii Pacific, the Pac West regular-season champion, was led by West Region Player of the Year Morganne Comstock's 22 points, five steals, four blocks and four assists. Poor shooting plagued the Sharks, who put up 26 more shots than Cal Baptist but only hit 35.3 percent of them.
Seattle Pacific 77, Humboldt State 62
Senior guard Aubree Callen had 16 points and nine assists Friday to lead sixth-seeded Seattle Pacific past third-seeded Humboldt State 77-62 in Friday's first game.
The Falcons (22-6) used superior shooting and a huge first-half run to beat Humboldt State, which ended the season 23-6.
Seattle Pacific went on a 21-3 run to seize control in the first half and led 45-24 at the half.
Betsy Kingma added 13 points, four assists and three steals for the Falcons, who along with UAA are the only representatives from the Great Northwest Athletic Conference in the eight-team tournament.
Seattle Pacific finished second to UAA in the GNAC regular season. Humboldt State (23-6) was the regular-season co-champion in the California Collegiate Athletic Association.
The Falcons outshot the Lumberjacks .419 to .260. Danielle Gaumer led Humboldt State with 12 points and five steals. Kersey Wilcox chipped in 10 points and seven assists.
Cal Poly Pomona 61, Dominguez Hills 57
Ariel Marsh scored four points in the final two minutes to boost seventh-seeded Cal Poly Pomona past second-seeded Cal State Dominguez Hills 61-57 in the tournament's second game.
Marsh hit a long jumper with 1:56 left in the game to give the Broncos a 59-55 lead. With 12 seconds left, she sank a pair of free throws.
Ashley Lovett delivered 12 points and 11 rebounds to boost Pomona (20-8) into a Saturday semifinal game against Seattle Pacific.
Dominguez Hills, the CCAA tournament champion and regular-season co-champ, finished the season with a 26-7 record. The Toros were led by Breanne Garcia, who scored a game-high 22 points.
Pomona lost twice to Dominguez Hills during the CCAA regular season.
NCAA Division II West Region
Alaska Airlines Center
Saturday's semifinals
5 p.m. – Seattle Pacific (22-6) vs. Cal Poly Pomona (20-8)
7:30 p.m. – Cal Baptist (25-6) vs. Point Loma (20-11)