Pomona, CA – The Simon Fraser University women's basketball team exacted some revenge on Friday afternoon in the opener of the NCAA Tournament, defeating the Western Washington Vikings 77-70.

It wraps up the season series between the two sides who split at two wins apiece but Friday afternoon's victory for the Clan punched SFU's ticket into the west region semi-final.

"It's always nice to win. It was the game I thought it was going to be," said Head Coach Bruce Langford. "I thought it was a game where both teams had runs. We've played them eight times in the last two years, four times each year, and although the odd time the score was maybe a 10 point spread they've always been right down to the wire."

Clan leading scorer Erin Chambers (Mission, BC) led the Clan in scoring with 27 points while Meg Wilson (London, ON) recorded a double-double with 11 rebounds and 15 points while grabbing three steals.

"Early on I got on the court and had some confidence. I struggled to score in previous meetings with Western Washington and we tried some different things at practice. I wanted to attack offensively and be more confident in my shot," said Wilson.

At times the Clan struggled from the free throw line but Chambers did not, going 13 for 16 from the charity stripe.

"I think our last game against Western Washington was still fresh in our minds so we knew what they brought, how competitive they are, the energy they had and that they were never going to give up so it was a big team win today," said Chambers.

Rebecca Langmead (Torbay, NL) finished just shy of a double-double with 12 rebounds and nine points to go along with three blocked shots, making some key baskets and some key defensive stops late in the game.

As a team the Clan shot 46 percent from the field.

SFU led for the majority of the game, taking a 12 point lead into the locker room at halftime and holding the lead through the second half.

Western Washington scored the opening basket only to have Marie-Line Petit (Bergeonnes, QC) score on a free throw and a layup to give SFU an early 3-2 lead.

That cued the beginning of an opening nine minutes that would see 11 lead changes.

With Western leading 19-18 and 10:58 to play in the first half, Kia Van Laare (New Westminster, BC) would convert on a jumper that put the Clan in the front and they would not trail again in the game.

Van Laare's jumper started a 7-0 run for SFU that gave the Clan a 25-19 lead with 9:45 remaining in the half.

She would score six points and grab five rebounds in the game.

Western would pull within two points with 5:51 to play before a Katie Lowen (Lethbridge, AB) layup sparked the Clan to a 15-5 run to close out the half and a 12-point halftime lead.

The 12-point lead would be the Clan's largest of the afternoon as WWU came back to tie the score in the second half at 63-63 with 6:47 to play.

SFU would slowly pull away from there, hitting key free throws late including three in the final minute by Chambers and Van Laare.

SFU will play either # 2 Montana State Billings in the west region semi-final on Saturday at 5:00 p.m.

"We've played them a couple of times and that gives us a little bit of knowledge about their personnel but I think it's crucial that we come out with the intensity we had today," finished Langford.

The Clan are 1-2 against MSUB on the season, but scored a key victory over them last Friday in the Great Northwest Atheltic Conference tournament.

Live stat and webcast links will be available at athletics.sfu.ca.

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