Madison's, McPhees' teams advance to Big Dance; UW's Williams, Collier await bid
Mon, 03/09/2015
By Bob Sims
Kennedy grad Alli Madison, a 5-foot-8 senior guard, scored eight points in the Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves' 71-58 win over Western Washington in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference title game on Saturday in Billings, Mont.
Western sophomore guard Kiana Gandy, a Mount Rainier graduate, had two points and two rebounds in the Vikings' loss. Western finished its season at 21-9.
Alaska-Anchorage (29-1) are winners of 17 consecutive games and has been voted the nation's top-ranked Division II team in the latest USA Today Sports/NCAA II Top-25 Poll.
The Seawolves will host an eight-team NCAA Dvision II regional for the first time in its existence this week.
Alaska-Anchorage faces Point Loma, Calif. (19-11) on Friday at 7:30 p.m. in its tourney opener.
Seattle-Pacific (21-6) will square off against Humboldt State (23-5) at 1 p.m. Freshman Jordan McPhee, a reserve 5-foot-10 guard who is a Mount Rainier graduate, plays for the Falcons.
Jordan's twin sister, Brittany McPhee, also a Mount Rainier grad, is on the Stanford Cardinal team that beat California 61-60 on Sunday in the Pac-12 Conference tournament championship game.
With the victory, the 19th-ranked Cardinal (24-9) sealed an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Stanford will learn next Monday if it has been chosen for a regional.
Washington must still await their postseason fate. California eliminated the Huskies from the Pac-12 tourney on Saturday, 69-53, dispelling the Huskies' dreams for a Pac-12 crown and an automatic NCAA berth. Kennedy graduate Aminah Williams of West Seattle, a 6-foot senior forward, had seven rebounds and four points in the loss. Sophomore forward/center Katie Collier, a Seattle Christian grad, had four rebounds and a block.
"It's going to be a long 10 days waiting to find out (if the Huskies go to the NCAAs or NIT), but I'll rest pretty easily, thinking it should happen," Washington coach Mike Neighbors told Mason Kelley of GoHuskies.com.
"If we get invited to the NCAA tournament, I think we'll be ready. The Pac-12 has had a great year. All of the teams have prepared us for whomever we might draw in the tournament."
The Huskies haven't made it the NCAA tournament since 2007.