Women’s basketball: Lions are finals bound

Tony Altobelli

COSTA MESA - Vanguard University women’s basketball coach Russ

Davis summed up the play of 5-foot-6 (at best) point guard Becki Huddle

in two words following Friday’s Golden State Athletic Conference

semifinals contest with Point Loma Nazarene.

“Not normal.”

Huddle scored 16 points, grabbed a team-high 12 rebounds and dished out

seven assists, leading the Lions to a 75-68 win over the Crusaders.

“She’s 5-5 or something and she leads our team with 12 rebounds,” Davis

said. “She just finds a way to get it done.”

With the win, the Lions will take on Azusa Pacific in the GSAC Finals

Tuesday night at 5 p.m. at Whittier College.

Kelly Boeke led the Lions (28-5) with 20 points and nine rebounds, while

Marisa Emde added 14 points, including four three-pointers.

The Crusaders (17-6), which defeated Vanguard on Jan. 11, gave Davis and

Lions fits for most of the game.

“We have a matchup problem with them,” Davis said. “We start three

guards, while they start three big forwards. We didn’t shoot the ball

very well, but we bailed ourselves out with offensive rebounds.”

The Lions outrebounded the Crusaders, 51-32, which led to a 25-7 scoring

edge from the free-throw line.

Erin Kellar led the Crusaders with 29 points, 20 in the second-half.

The Lions led by five at the half, but Point Loma would not go away.

Point Loma grabbed a 48-47 lead with 14:30 remaining, but an 11-4

Vanguard run gave the Lions the lead for good.

Paulette Seaman hit two big three-pointers down the stretch to keep the

lead on the side of the Lions.

Point Loma cut the lead to two with 52 seconds remaining before Laura Lee

drove the lane and scored two of her 12 points, putting the nail in the

Crusaders’ coffin.

The Crusaders actually made five more shots from the field than the

Lions, but the second-chance points and free throws proved to be the

difference.

GOLDEN STATE ATHLETIC CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT

Semifinals

Vanguard University 75, Point Loma Nazarene 68

Point Loma - Kellar 29, Savage 12, Becker 10, Rumpel 7, Curtis 6, Harris

4.

3 pt. goals - Becker 2, Curtis 2, Savage 2, Rumpel 1.

Fouled out - Harris, Rumpel.

Vanguard - Boeke 20, Huddle 16, Emde 14, Lee 12, Seaman 7, Fikse 3,

McKinney 2, Weidler 1.

3 pt. goals - Emde 4, Seaman 2.

Fouled out - None.

Halftime - Vanguard, 38-33.