Women keep it close before losing 57-54

Make Rebecca Kielpinski look bad.

And the Great Northwest Athletic Conference co-Player of the Year had some unfortunate company.

The Norse suffocated Kielpinski in particular and UAA in general, holding on for a 57-54 win in the women's Division II Final Four at Kearney, Neb.

Kielpinski was a season-worst 2 of 13 from the field, not counting 0-for-2 and 0-for-4 performances in games the Seawolves won by a combined 62 points.

She wasn't the only Seawolf with a cold hand. Jennifer Salazar was 0 for 5, Kalhie Quinones 4 of 11, Maria Nilsson 1 of 5 and Dasha Basova 3 for 8.

Still, the Seawolves had a chance to force overtime. But Nilsson's NBA-distance 3-pointer was short and time expired as Salazar's putback clanged off iron, a fitting end to a game in which UAA shot 29 percent.

"Our kids didn't make baskets, but the effort was there like always," UAA Tim Moser said via cell phone. "The kids played tremendously hard and still, shooting the percentage we did, (had) a chance to win the game."

The first possession of the game foreshadowed things to come as Quinones missed twice in close and Ruby Williams failed a third time.

All night long at the Health and Sports Center on the campus of Nebraska-Kearney, the Seawolves struggled to find open looks. Kielpinski was constantly harassed by the Norse and maybe had three open shots.

"Their length got to us a little bit, but ultimately I can say we got the ball inside," Moser said. "We had a lot of layups. We probably missed 10 or 12 bunnies.

"That's the nature of the beast."

Northern Kentucky took the lead for good early in the game thanks to an 8-2 run that turned a 6-5 deficit into a 13-8 advantage.

UAA hung around the rest of the half, getting back to within two points on a couple of occasions, but trailed 26-21 at halftime.

The Norse came out and absolutely stunk it up to start the second half. Leading scorer Angela Healy missed a 17-footer on the first trip down the floor, then NKU turned the ball over on its next eight possessions as the Seawolves upped the defensive pressure.

But UAA was still cold at the offensive end, and despite holding the Norse scoreless for the first 6:20 of the half could only manage a tie.

The game remained fairly even until the midway point of the second half when Northern Kentucky busted off a 9-0 run to take the biggest lead of the game with 6:49 to go.

After falling behind 50-41 with about four minutes left, the Seawolves closed on a 13-7 run, but it wasn't enough.

"I am glad we were in the Final Four, but we were in pursuit of a championship," Moser said. "It stinks because we were close. We had our chances to win. That's what hurts the most."

Northern Kentucky's Nicole Chiodi missed her second free throw with 19.5 seconds left and the Norse holding a three-point lead -- giving the Seawolves a last chance.

Quinones missed on a drive to the hoop but the ball deflected out of bounds off NKU with 7.4 left on the clock. After a timeout, Quinones got the ball on the inbound out high, swung it over to Nilsson who had a defender in her face. The potential tying 3 drew iron.

Chiodi had a great game for Northern Kentucky with nine points, 12 rebounds and four assists. Danyelle Echoles led the Norse with 13 points. Northern Kentucky shot 45 percent for the game, 57 percent in the second half.

Kielpinski went 12 of 12 from the line to finish with a game-high 16 points and also had six rebounds and four assists. Williams scored 12 points and grabbed nine boards. Quinones finished with 10 points.

The loss marks the end of the most successful season in women's basketball history at UAA, and closes the curtain on the careers of seniors Salazar, Quinones, Nilsson and Erin Cunningham.

"The kids that are leaving our program did a tremendous job," Moser said. "The nine coming back have to fight to get back here and I hope we can do it again.

"They wanted to finish the season with a win. I'm proud of these kids. I hope people there understand this was a special group of kids."

Northern Kentucky will play for the Division II national championship on Saturday against South Dakota, which defeated Delta State 68-58 in the other national semifinal on Thursday.

Northern Kentucky26 31 -- 57

UAA21 33 -- 54

Northern Kentucky -- Chiodi 3-7 3-5 9, Slack 3-4 4-5 12, Echoles 4-7 3-5 13, Brannen 4-8 2-2 10, Healy 3-8 3-5 10, Lantry 0-1 0-0 0, Brackman 0-1 0-0 0, Caldwell 0-2 3-6 6. Totals 17-38 18-28 57.

UAA -- Salazar 0-5 0-0 0, Quinones 4-11 2-2 10, Williams 4-8 4-6 12, Nilsson 1-5 0-0 3, Kielpinski 2-13 12-12 16, Harris 0-0 0-0 0, Basova 3-8 1-1 9, Thompson 1-2 0-0 2, Dekel 1-2 0-0 2, Aden 0-0 0-0 0, Parks 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 16-55 19-21 54.

3-point goals -- Northern Kentucky 5-13 (Slack 2-2, Echoles 2-5, Brannen 0-2, Healy 1-3, Lantry 0-1); UAA 3-16 (Salazar 0-1, Milsson 1-5, Kielpinski 0-2, Basova 2-7, Dekel 0-1). Fouled out -- Northern Kentucky: Brannen, Healy; UAA: None. Rebounds -- Northern Kentucky 35 (Chiodi 12), UAA 36 (Williams 9). Assists -- Northern Kentucky 12 (Chiodi 4), UAA 10 (Kielpinski 4). Total fouls -- Northern Kentucky 19, UAA 22. Technical fouls -- None.