St. Benedict's season end with 74-69 loss

ASHLAND, Va. — In a battle of height versus speed, speed won out.

George Fox (Ore.) erased a six-point halftime deficit and ousted the College of St. Benedict from the NCAA Division III women's basketball tournament with a 74-69 victory in the sectional semifinals Friday at Crenshaw Gymnasium.

The Blazers, who finished their season 24-5, shot just over 31 percent (10-for-32) from the field in the second half.

And while George Fox didn't have an answer for 6-foot-4 senior Kim Johnson, who finished with 21 points and 15 rebounds, the Bruins' tandem of Kim Leith and Liz Clark combined to score 48 points of their own.

"Both teams played tough," Johnson said. "In the first half, we ended on a run. In the second half, they were the ones (ending) on the run."

George Fox, which has no one on its roster taller than 6-1, played zone defense the entire night in an attempt to keep the ball out of Johnson's hands down low.

Despite her point total, the scheme worked, as many of Johnson's points were from the outside.

"We've not seen someone 6-4," said Bruins coach Scott Rueck, whose team improved to 22-5 overall and will face host Randolph-Macon (Va.) — an 82-79 overtime winner over Trinity (Texas) Friday — in the sectional finals at 6 p.m. (CST) today. "To us, that's to our advantage in the open court. We wanted to take (Johnson) away from the hoop and go by her with our speed."

The Blazers started fast, establishing a new milestone with their first points. Junior forward Anna Heikenen's layup moved her past former All-American Michelle Barlau on the school's single season scoring list. She finished the game with 16 points to expand her total to 511 this season. Barlau had 495 in 2002-03.

Thanks to a torrid run late in the first half, it appeared as though it would be St. Benedict's night. Trailing 26-19 after a free throw by freshman Tiffany Behary with 6:57 to go before halftime, the Blazers proceeded to outscore George Fox 21-8 the rest of the way.

Heikenen started the run with a baseline jumper. Then, after Johnson's turnaround, Laura Zwach scored her only points of the night — a 3-pointer from the top of the key — to give her team the lead (32-30) for the first time since a 5-3 advantage early.

Behary missed two free throws, then Johnson drained another 3-pointer (she finished the night with five) and Heikenen scored six in a row. The Bruins scored the last four points of the half, but St. Benedict was up 40-34 at the break.

"We've been down by more than six before, so we knew that wasn't the end of it," said Leith, who finished with 25 points of her own. "We needed to take care of our offensive end and things would fall into place."

After the Blazers assumed a 56-49 lead on sophomore Darby Noreen's 3-pointer with 11:45 to play, things began to unravel. George Fox embarked on a 10-2 spurt to reclaim the lead.

"Coming off the half, we're usually able to make that (big) run," St. Benedict coach Mike Durbin said. "But we weren't able to do that tonight."

Johnson set up Heikenen for a bucket, which tied the game 66-66 with four minutes to play. But St. Benedict would score just three more points the rest of the way. Suddenly, the open looks the Blazers had enjoyed disappeared.

"We're both good teams," Heikenen said. "The stats will show the same thing. It just came down to getting some shots... at the end they were the ones on a run."

The Bruins scored the next five points before junior Justine Richels' free throw cut the deficit to four with 58.7 seconds left to play. But the Bruins were 4-for-6 from the line in the final two minutes to put the game out of reach.

"Eventually, it was a question of who was going to impose whose will on the other," Durbin said.

"They did a good job on defense, particularly in the second half. We had a couple of lost possessions to start the second with some turnovers."

GEORGE FOX (74)

Tiffany Behary 2-3 3-7 7 (3 rebounds), Kim Leith 9-24 2-2 25 (2 rebounds, 2 steals), Liz Clark 7-13 4-4 23 (6 rebounds), Kellie Thomas 1-4 1-2 3 (3 rebounds, 2 steals), Erin Powers 3-6 2-2 8 (3 rebounds, 2 assists), Robin Taylor 0-1 0-0 0 (3 rebounds, 3 assists), Karissa Boyd 0-0 0-0 0 (2 assists), Katy Campbell 2-5 3-4 8 (7 rebounds). Totals: FG 24-56, FT 15-21, REB 32, TO 8, PF 16.

ST. BENEDICT (69)

Darby Noreen 2-8 0-0 5 (7 rebounds, 2 assists), Jen Dalhed 2-7 0-0 5 (3 rebounds, 2 assists), Katie Kempe 5-13 3-5 14 (4 rebounds, 3 assists), Anna Heikenen 7-14 1-1 16 (7 rebounds), Kim Johnson 7-13 2-2 21 (15 points, 3 rebounds), Tara Schloe 1-1 1-1 3, Laura Zwach 1-4 1-2 4 (2 assists), Justine Richels 0-1 1-2 1, Ellie Boone 0-1 0-0 0 (2 rebounds). Totals: FG 25-62, FT 9-13, REB 43, TO 13, PF 16.

3-point goals: GF — 11-31 (Thomas 0-2, Leith 5-14, Clark 5-10, Behary 0-1, Taylor 0-1, Campbell 1-3); SB — 10-25 (Heikenen 1-1, Johnson 5-7, Kempe 1-5, Dalhed 1-3, Noreen 1-5, Zwach 1-3, Richels 0-1); Fouled out: none; Technical fouls: none; Deadball rebounds: GF 3, SB 1; Bench points: GF 8, SB 8; Halftime score: SB 40, GF 34.