UAA women advance in NCAA tournament

Time to panic? Apparently not.

"I thought we were going to be fine," UAA coach Tim Moser said.

And with the help of Rebecca Kielpinski, Kiki Taylor and a never-let-up defense, the Seawolves were.

UAA shook off a shaky start that lasted most of the first half to beat Northwest Nazarene 64-54 in the first-round of the West Region tournament at Seattle Pacific's Royal Brougham Pavilion.

"They don't want to lose. They don't want the season to end. I figured at some point they would relax ... and we were gonna be OK," Moser told KUDO 1080-AM radio.

The comeback was a credit to a defense that doesn't let opponents breath and a pair of players who couldn't be stopped.

Kielpinski, a 6-foot-2 senior center, was a power in the paint, piling up 16 points and 13 rebounds, and Taylor, a 5-foot-5 junior guard, as too quick to contain, breaking loose for 12 points and five steals.

"You're fighting for your life. It's win or go home. I think everyone knows that, so you're a little tense, a little jittery, and in the second half we did a better job relaxing," Kielpinski said in a phone interview.

The victory came against a conference rival that had played UAA tough twice during the regular season, losing 65-54 in Anchorage despite leading most of the first half and rolling to a 71-48 victory three weeks ago in Nampa, Idaho.

The Seawolves (28-3) take on UC-San Diego at 4 p.m. Alaska time in a second-round game today.

Advancement looked iffy early on, when the Crusaders (18-10) built a six-point lead that lasted much of the first half.

The Seawolves, who gave away the ball 17 times and made 37 percent of their shots, had to play catchup almost the entire 20 minutes. They ended with a 7-0 run highlighted by Hanna Johansson's strong inside play and Jackie Thiel's late 3-pointer that earned UAA a 34-34 halftime lead.

Northwest Nazarene led briefly on Brittney Roggenkamp's jumper that broke the tie at the start of the second half, but the Seawolves quickly grabbed command with a 9-0 run.

UAA unleashed its pressure defense during the run, getting steals from Kielpinski and Taylor, and forcing Crusader point guard Mallory Whipple into calling a timeout when the Seawolves trapped her as she tried to move the ball downcourt.

Taylor hit a pair of free throws, Kielpinski scored twice from inside and Taylor ended the run with a steal and a layup that gave the Seawolves a 43-36 lead three minutes into the second half.

"Our team just definitely picked it up and put pressure on them and attacked them," Kielpinski said.

That run set the tone for the rest of the game. UAA harassed the Crusaders into 12 turnovers that half while only committing seven. Three minutes after Whipple was forced to call timeout to escape UAA's defense, Northwest Nazarene's Lindsay Brady had to do the same thing while double-teamed by the Seawolves.

"It was so physical, it was unbelievable," Northwest Nazarene coach Kelli Lindley said in a post-game press conference. "They made us real uncomfortable. We didn't take care of the ball very well. They did what they intended to do, which was force us into some sloppy passes."

UAA's outside shooters were barely a factor -- Thiel's 3-pointer that tied things at the half was the team's only trey -- but it didn't matter, because the Seawolves got the job done inside.

Johansson, a 6-2 freshman, turned in 11 quality minutes that produced eight points and eight rebounds, and Ruby Williams, a 5-10 senior, added seven points and seven rebounds.

Between those two and Kielpinski, UAA pulled down 23 offensive rebounds to dominate the boards 47-34.

"We just couldn't contain their big girls inside," Lindley said.

And no one was bigger than Kielpinski, the All-American who racked up her 47th career double-double and added three steals and two blocked shots. Her 16 points make her the all-time leading scorer in the history of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference with 1,701, eclipsing the record of 1,696 held by Central Washington's Rose Shaw (1998-2002).

"Rebecca stepped up," Moser said. "She did it on both ends of the floor today, and she needs to do it again tomorrow."

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Northwest Nazarene 34 20 -- 54

UAA 34 30 -- 64

NORTHWEST NAZARENE -- Roggenkamp 5-17 2-2 13; Brady 3-8 3-4 9; Johnson 2-6 4-5 8; Olds 2-3 4-4 8; Whipple 1-4 3-4 6; Hein 2-8 2-2 6; Williams 2-7 0-0 4; Bazzi 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 17-54 18-21 54.

UAA -- Kielpinski 5-10 6-9 16; Taylor 2-10 8-10 12; Thiel 2-4 4-4 9; Johansson 4-8 0-0 8; Williams 2-9 3-4 7; Basova 2-4 2-2 6; Harris 0-7 4-4 4; Gruwell 1-4 0-2 2; Aden 0-0 0-0 0; Dekel 0-0 0-0 0; Burnett 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-56 27-35 64.

3-point goals -- Northwest Nazarene 2-17 (Roggenkamp 1-6; Whipple 1-3; Johnson 0-1; Olds 0-1; Hein 0-3; Bazzi 0-1; Brady 0-2), UAA 1-8 (Thiel 1-3; Taylor 0-1; Basova 0-1; Gruwell 0-3). Fouled out -- Northwest Nazarene-Brady, UAA-None.

Rebounds -- Northwest Nazarene 34 (Hein 11), UAA 47 (Kielpinski 13). Assists -- Northwest Nazarene 9 (Hein 2; Olds 2), UAA 10 (Harris 2; Thiel 2; Taylor 2; Williams 2). Total fouls -- Northwest Nazarene 25, UAA 18. Technical fouls -- Northwest Nazarene-None, UAA-None. A -- 243.