Web update: WCC showcases parity
By Jeremy Herb
Click here to view a slideshow from the WCC tournament.
SPOKANE, Wash. -- After five days, fourteen games and two NCAA berths, the only word to describe this weekend's WCC Tournament is close.
Almost two-thirds of the games in both the men and women's brackets were decided by five points or less, and three needed overtime to be settled.
Click here to read The Santa Clara's blog from Spokane for the tournament.
Gonzaga, ranked fourth in the country, was the only team guaranteed a berth into the NCAA Tournament before this weekend's tournament here.
The desperation every team had with their season on the line revealed the parity within the small WCC conference. Even Gonzaga, the eventual men's champion, considered superior by most experts compared to every other team in the WCC, failed to win any of their games by more than a single point in regulation.
In the semifinals, the Bulldogs were forced into overtime before escaping with a 96-92 victory, as San Diego erased a ten point first-half deficit before sending the game into overtime with a lay-up at the buzzer.
Then, against Loyola Marymount in the championship game, a missed lay-up in the final seconds was the only thing that preserved the Bulldog's title and 40-game home win streak. Gonzaga had trailed by 15 points in the second half, but came back to overtake the Lions 68-67 and earned the WCC's automatic bid into the NCAA tournament.
On the women's side, Gonzaga wasn't so fortunate. After tying Santa Clara for the best record in the WCC during the regular season, seventh-seeded USF upset them in the first round 75-67.
Then in the second round, USF almost replicated their previous upset, narrowly losing to Santa Clara in overtime. A Chandice Cronk 3-pointer with 3 seconds left was the only thing that prevented the Dons from making the final.
In the final, however, the Broncos could not stop another upset, as they fell to fourth-seeded Pepperdine 71-67.
Just like their game against USF, the Broncos had the ball with 6 seconds to play, this time down by two. But they never got a shot off to try to tie the game after the ball popped loose, and the Waves earned the WCC Championship and a berth in the NCAA Tournament.
The Bronco men were ranked sixth heading into the tournament, and the young squad was not expected to travel deep into the tournament. But after winning their first round game against Portland, the Broncos almost upset St. Mary's in the quarterfinals.
Just hours after Cronk had forced overtime against USF, the men had an almost identical scenario, when walk-on senior Joey Kaempf hit a three to tie the score at 62 with only 3 seconds left in regulation.
However, unlike the women, who blew by the Dons after forcing overtime, Santa Clara could not pull off the upset, as St. Mary's defeated the Broncos 76-72 behind nine free throws made in overtime.
Here's a game-by-game recap of the Broncos' WCC Tournament:
MenFirst Round: Friday Mar. 3Broncos 72, Pilots 68
Santa Clara fought off a Portland team that stayed with the Broncos the almost the entire game, but nonetheless, Santa Clara eventually defeated the Pilots 72-68, advancing to tomorrow's quarterfinal against St. Mary's.
The game featured 21 lead changes and was tied nine times. Neither team got ahead by more than three points the most of the second half, until Santa Clara broke free to take a nine point lead, 60-51, with about five minutes to play.
But just when Santa Clara seemed to be breaking away, Niesen was called for a "contact" technical foul, which meant that he made contact when it was a dead ball, and could not be called for just a regular foul.
Portland cut the lead to three, 60-57, and then Brandon Rohe was given an intentional foul, which gave Portland two shots and possession. But Portland missed both free throws and was called for traveling when they received possession, and Santa Clara never let Portland come closer the rest of the way.
"We made a couple mistakes in the last couple minutes," Broncos Coach Dick Davey said. "I'm just happy we escaped."
Niesen led all Broncos with 19 points and eight rebounds. Brody Angley followed him with 17 and Mitch Henke added 11.
The Broncos now face off against St. Mary's tomorrow evening following the first quarterfinal game. St. Mary's defeated the Broncos in both meetings this season.
The game will also pit Niesen against St. Mary's forward Daniel Kickert, who was suspended earlier in the season after hitting Niesen.
"It's gonna be a really brutal, physical game, just like any other team," Niesen said of tomorrow's match-up.
Quarterfinal: Saturday Mar. 4Gaels 76, Broncos 72 (OT)
Lighting almost struck twice for the Broncos Saturday. Almost.
After forcing overtime by tying the game on a Joey Kaempf 3-pointer with 3 seconds to play, the Broncos could not overcome St. Mary's in the extra frame, falling 76-72.
"It was a hard fought game," Broncos Coach Dick Davey said. "I'm proud of our guys for the effort and energy they put into it."
With 46.4 seconds left, the Broncos were trailing by four, 56-60. However, after Joey Kaempf hit a 3-pointer to cut the Gaels lead to one, they pulled back ahead, 62-59 with only 13 seconds to play.
But after Brody Angley missed a first three-point attempt, Kaempf grabbed the rebound, ran back behind the 3-point line, and hit another three pointer with 3 seconds to play - almost an identical scenario to the women's victory over USF just hours earlier.
But unlike the women, who jumped on USF to begin the overtime, the Broncos fell behind after making the first basket, and never regained the lead.
Kaempf, who was in place to be the game's hero after hitting two threes in the last minute, led the Broncos with 21 points, and six three-pointers, both career highs. Angley also added 18 points, and Niesen scored 11 and grabbed seven boards.
"I'm glad I made shots, but I wish I would have made a few in the overtime period," Kaempf said.
Kaempf walked-onto the team this year as a senior, and with one year of eligibility remaining, he said he is returning next year.
In overtime, the Broncos appeared to have pulled within two with 29 seconds remaining, after Niesen drove the basket and scored. Niesen instead was whistled for an offensive foul, his fifth, fouling out and deflating the Broncos last hopes to mount another late comeback.
This was St. Mary's third victory over Santa Clara this season, and the second overtime win. The last time the Broncos lost to a team three times in one season was against Gonzaga in 2003-2004.
The Broncos did a good job of keeping St. Mary's forward Daniel Kickert, the Gaels all time leading scorer, off the score sheet, limiting him to five points.
"Even though we lost, we played the D kind of like we wanted to against them," Davey said.
The anticipated match-up between Niesen and Kickert didn't materialize, as the two only made contact once during the game, when Niesen was whistled for a foul.
At halftime, the Broncos led St. Mary's 31-29, despite falling behind 10-2 to start the game.
WomenQuarterfinal: Thursday Mar. 2Broncos 83, Pilots 67
Despite allowing Portland to pull within one point in the second half, the Broncos advanced to the semifinal with an 83-77 victory.
After leading by 16 points at halftime, the Broncos lead was cut to one with 4:17 left, thanks in large part to Portland's Karlie Burris, who scored all of her 23 points in the second half.
However, behind Michelle Cozad's 25 points, the Broncos prevailed, and will face USF, who upset second-seeded Gonzaga, in the semifinal on Saturday.
Chandice Cronk also added a career high 21 points coming off the bench, and tied her career high for 3-pointers with five.
Cozad only shot 5-for-19 from the floor, but she hit 11-of-14 free throws and made some key defensive plays down the stretch to help prevent Portland from pulling off upset.
Semifinal: Saturday Mar. 3Broncos 75, Dons 65 (OT)
The Bronco women have lived and died by the three-pointer all season, and today, they lived.
With eight seconds left, USF had the ball with a 56-53 lead, and it looked as though the Broncos were going to be the second top-seed to fall to the seventh-seeded Dons.
But after the Broncos forced a jump ball, which gave Santa Clara possession, Chandice Cronk hit a long 3-pointer with 4 seconds remaining to send the game into overtime, where the Broncos used their momentum to escape with a 75-65 victory.
"This is what March is all about," Santa Clara Coach Michelle Bento-Jackson said. "It wasn't a pretty game in the first half, but both teams competed extremely hard, and obviously it comes down to players making plays."
After Cronk's 3-pointer tied the game, the Broncos hit another two in overtime as Santa Clara pulled away from the Dons. Overall, the Broncos hit eight threes to USF's four.
Michelle Cozad led the Broncos with 18 points, and Kayla Huss and Cronk added 16 and 15.
After USF knocked out second-seeded Gonzaga Friday, the Broncos road to winning the tournament looked much easier. But the seventh-seeded Dons led for most of the game, behind Dominique Carter's 22 points.
After the Broncos cut the lead to one with 1:08, remaining, USF pulled ahead by 58-55 on their subsequent possession.
Cozad missed a jumper with 11 seconds left, and the rebound was declared a jump ball, but USF had possession.
On the inbound, Huss forced a turnover that led to another jump ball, giving the Broncos possession and allowing Cronk to tie the game.
"Basically, I knew it was good the second it left my hand," Cronk said. "That was probably the biggest shot of my entire life."
Santa Clara committed 21 turnovers to the Dons 14. Bento-Jackson said the turnovers were uncharacteristic of her team, as many were unforced.
Cozad was on the bench for a majority of the first half after picking up two early fouls, only scoring five in the opening period.
The Broncos will take on the Pepperdine Waves tomorrow at 1 p.m. in the championship game. Santa Clara and Pepperdine have combined to win five of the 14 WCC Championships, with the Broncos earning three and the Waves two.
Final: Sunday Mar. 5Waves 71, Broncos 67
The Broncos may have hit a last minute shot to make the championship game, but that's where the magic ran out.
Trailing by two points with six seconds to play, the Broncos did not get a tying shot off, as mad scramble for a loose ball resulted in a jump ball, giving Pepperdine possession and a 71-67 victory for their third WCC Tournament Championship in five years.
With 43 seconds left and the score tied at 67, Pepperdine called timeout with only 5 seconds on the shot clock. They were forced to take a desperation three-pointer, but the rebound went straight to Pepperdine guard Jessica Ross, giving the Waves a fresh clock and another chance to take the lead.
After running down the clock, WCC Tournament MVP Daphanie Kennedy drove down the middle of the court and hit a short jumper to put Pepperdine ahead by two with 9 seconds left.
The Broncos called timeout, and then in bounded the ball to Kayla Huss. Her defender fell after Huss got the ball, but Huss ran into a congested area of Wave players, and the ball was knocked loose, leading to the jump ball.
Kennedy said that she might have fouled Huss when she tried to reach in and knock the ball loose.
"Kayla was looking to attack, and it was a congested area," Broncos coach Michelle Bento-Jackson said. "So we never got to run the play we planned."
The Broncos almost took control of the game, as they were up by five with 10:40 to play, but an 11-2 run gave Pepperdine the lead with 5:30 left, which they never relinquished.
"Disappointment is the word," Bronco guard Michelle Cozad said. "With only one second left on the clock, I just put my head down."
Cozad scored 24 points and had nine rebounds, leading the Broncos in both categories. In the last five minutes, however, Cozad missed three shots after driving and making contact with the defender, but she was unable to draw any fouls.
"I just tried my hardest to get to the hole and draw a foul," Cozad said. "But I should have made those shots."
The Waves kept the Broncos from gaining any momentum with 3-pointers. Santa Clara only made three baskets from behind the arc, shooing 21 percent.
"Our focus was to take away the three," Pepperdine Coach Julie Rousseau said. "They thrive on the three like teams thrive on dunks."
The victory sends Pepperdine gives Pepperdine the WCC's automatic bid into the NCAA tournament, but with a 16-16 overall record, the Waves will likely have a low seed and a difficult first round matchup.
The Broncos probably will not receive a big into the NCAA Tournament, despite a 21-10 overall record. Last season, top-seeded Gonzaga was denied entry after losing to the Broncos in the WCC Tournament, even though they finished with a 28-4 record.
The Bulldogs did play in the WNIT instead, which may be the Broncos postseason destination.
Cozad and sophomore Chandice Cronk, who sent the Broncos to the final with her last-second shot Saturday, were named to the WCC All-Tournament team.
Contact Jeremy Herb at (408) 551-1918 or jmherb@scu.edu.