Boxscore and Play by Play

SEATTLE (Mar. 13) - The University of Alaska Anchorage used a strong second-half defensive effort to advance to the second-round of the NCAA D.II women's national basketball tournament, defeating Northwest Nazarene University 64-54 on Friday afternoon at Royal Brougham Pavilion in the opening round of the West Regional.

UAA, ranked 2nd-nationally and seeded 2nd in the West Region, held the Crusaders to 20 second half points, while scoring 30 themselves and going 27-for-35 from the free throw line in the contest.  UAA improves to 28-3 overall and will meet UC San Diego on Saturday afternoon at 5:30 p.m.

The Crusaders, seeded seventh in the region, finish the season 18-10 overall and were led by Brittney Roggenkamp's 13 points and Kristin Hein's 11 rebounds.  Roggenkamp was the only Crusader to reach double figures as NNU shot just 31.5-percent (17-54) from the floor and were held to eight of 29 shooting in the second half.

"I'm very proud of our effort today," commented NNU head coach Kelli Lindley.  "We battled hard but just couldn't knock down enough second-half shots."

Rebecca Kielpinski led UAA with 16 points and 13 rebounds and was joined in double-digits by Kiki Taylor with 12.  UAA out-rebounded NNU 47-34 and forced 24 Crusader turnovers.  Needing 11 points to claim the all-time GNAC scoring title, Kielpinski hit the mark and now has 1,701 career points.

Lindsay Brady scored nine for the Crusaders and senior point guard Mallory Whipple played her final game as a Crusader, scoring six points, grabbing one rebound and handing out one assist.

"Mallory has been a tremendous player for us and we will miss her," Lindley added.  "She had a great season and I'm glad she was able to play hard today."  Whipple missed all but 10 minutes of last Saturday's home game against Seattle Pacific game with a knee injury.

Newspaper Box Score
Northwest Nazarene vs Alaska Anchorage
03/13/09 2:30 p.m. at Seattle, Wash.
At Seattle, Wash.
ALASKA ANCHORAGE 64, NORTHWEST NAZARENE 54
NORTHWEST NAZARENE (18-10)
Roggenkamp,Brittney 5-17 2-2 13; Brady,Lindsay 3-8 3-4 9; Johnson,Beth 2-6
4-5 8; Olds,Janee 2-3 4-4 8; Whipple,Mallory 1-4 3-4 6; Hein,Kristin 2-8 2-2
6; Williams,Jennifer 2-7 0-0 4; Bazzi,Julianne 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 17-54 18-21
54.
ALASKA ANCHORAGE (28-3)
Kielpinski,Rebecca 5-10 6-9 16; Taylor,Kiki 2-10 8-10 12; Thiel,Jackie 2-4
4-4 9; Johansson,Hanna 4-8 0-0 8; Williams,Ruby 2-9 3-4 7; Basova,Dasha 2-4
2-2 6; Harris,Elisha 0-7 4-4 4; Gruwell,Tamar 1-4 0-2 2; Aden,Nikki 0-0 0-0
0; Dekel,Danielle 0-0 0-0 0; Burnett,Tristan 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-56 27-35
64.
Northwest Nazarene............   34   20  -   54
Alaska Anchorage..............   34   30  -   64
3-point goals--Northwest Nazarene 2-17 (Roggenkamp,Brittney 1-6;
Whipple,Mallory 1-3; Johnson,Beth 0-1; Olds,Janee 0-1; Hein,Kristin 0-3;
Bazzi,Julianne 0-1; Brady,Lindsay 0-2), Alaska Anchorage 1-8 (Thiel,Jackie
1-3; Taylor,Kiki 0-1; Basova,Dasha 0-1; Gruwell,Tamar 0-3). Fouled
out--Northwest Nazarene-Brady,Lindsay, Alaska Anchorage-None.
Rebounds--Northwest Nazarene 34 (Hein,Kristin 11), Alaska Anchorage 47
(Kielpinski,Rebecca 13). Assists--Northwest Nazarene 9 (Hein,Kristin 2;
Olds,Janee 2), Alaska Anchorage 10 (Harris,Elisha 2; Thiel,Jackie 2;
Taylor,Kiki 2; Williams,Ruby 2). Total fouls--Northwest Nazarene 25, Alaska
Anchorage 18. Technical fouls--Northwest Nazarene-None, Alaska
Anchorage-None. A-243
NCAA Women's Division II West Regionals, Quarterfinal