Box Score
Lacey, WA - The Simon Fraser University Clan women's basketball team has advanced to the semi-finals of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference playoffs thanks to their 87-79 victory over the Seattle Pacific Falcons Wednesday evening.

The Clan rebounded with a complete team effort to dispatch the Falcons after ending the regular season on a sour note against WWU last Saturday as seven players scored six or more points against SPU and five players scored in double-figures.

"I thought many people stepped up and played very well," said Head Coach Bruce Langford. "Meg Wilson (London, ON) was outstanding in the first half and I thought Marie-Line Petit (Bergeronnes, QC) was outstanding in the second half."

After edging SPU 5-4 in the early going, the Falcons went on a modest 6-2 run to pull ahead 10-7 with 15:09 to play in the opening half.

The two sides would trade baskets to make it 12-9 for Seattle Pacific before the Clan went on a 7-0 run spanning three minutes, which led to SFU pulling out in front 16-14.

As the first half wound down, the teams would go back-and-forth with SPU holding a four point lead with just over four minutes to go.

That was when senior Kia Van Laare (New Westminster) hit one of her three three-pointers on the night to cut the score to 29-28 SPU and Katie Lowen (Lethbridge, AB) converted on a layup to put the Clan in the lead.

Lowen made her return to the line-up after sitting out the season finale against Western Washington and made a big impact as she scored 11 points on four-of-seven shooting from the floor.

That sparked the Clan who would wind up going on a 13-4 run to end the first half, highlighted by Wilson sinking a three-pointer with just seconds left on the clock as the London native scored 10 points, while grabbing 13 rebounds and three steals in the game to earn the double-double.

SFU finished the game shooting 36.5 percent from behind the arc.

"We've struggled shooting the three a bit lately," explained Langford. "We talked about it at our shoot around and tried to be positive about our shots. We've done a lot to try and make sure our kids heads are in the right place."

Coming out of the half, Seattle Pacific would begin to warm up as they went on an 11-3 run just minutes into the final 20 minutes, taking a 46-45 lead.

Again the two teams would battle on both ends of the court, until Petit took over by hitting two three-pointers to make the score 57-51 with ten-and-a-half minutes left to play, as SFU went on a 8-0 run.

The Falcons would not go down without a fight though, when trailing by 11 points late, they were able to come back and make the score 74-71 SFU, with 1:46 left in the game.

Petit made her final three of the night before hitting two free throws in the final minute, while Chambers hit six to secure the eight point victory.

"We lost it a little bit and had a few stupid possessions," said Petit. "But I think we just stepped back, looked at what we had to do and knew we could break their press."

SFU finished the game shooting 46.3 percent from the floor and 82.9 percent from the free throw line. As well, the Clan out rebounded the Falcons 39-35 and outscored Seattle Pacific's bench 22-9.

With the win, the Clan will face the regular season's first place finisher, the Montana State University-Billings Yellowjackets, Friday March 7 at 7:30 p.m. in Lacey, WA.

"We certainly have to do a good job on the boards," Langford said on facing the Yellowjackets. "The first time we played them they annihilated us on the boards. But I think we're capable of competing there."

"It's just going to come down to who wants it more. They're very aggressive and they know their strengths and we just have to step up to the plate and play a perfect game," added Petit.

Earlier in the day, the NCAA released the most recent NCAA West Region rankings and the Clan came in at third, moving up one spot in the region since last week.

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