Seattle University women's basketball (2-3) won their first Washington Dental Service Thanksgiving Tournament championship, defeating Sacred Heart, 74-70, at the Connolly Center. They advanced to the championship game after defeating Portland, 63-61, on Friday night.
"Sacred Heart is a well-coached team and is coming off 25 wins and an NCAA Tournament appearance last year," said head coach Joan Bonvicini. "We knew they were good, but one of the key things for us was forcing turnovers and stops at the very end, and I think that helped us."
A close contest from the start, the score was tied three different times in the first three and a half minutes of the contest. In between ties, Sacred Heart led by two three different times until they took a three-point lead, 9-6, with 16:11 remaining in the first half.
The Pioneers went ahead by four, 11-7, on a layup by Gabrielle Washington at the 13:53 mark, but the Redhawks continued to fight back.
Seattle U took their first lead of the game, 14-13, with 12:18 remaining in the opening half following layups by Kacie Sowell (Ventura, Calif.) and Brenda Adhiambo (Mombasa, Kenya).
Sacred Heart retook the lead and went ahead by as many as seven, 23-16 at 9:34 following a three-pointer by Blair Koniszewski. The Redhawks came within three, 23-20 a minute later, but found themselves down by as many as 10, 30-20 with 6:50 left in the first half.
SU powered back, down by just two, 32-30, with 2:20 remaining in the half. Sylvia Shephard (Alta Loma, Calif.) and Adhiambo each added four points during the 10-2 run.
The two teams traded baskets, including a layup by Adhiambo, and Sacred Heart held onto the lead, 36-32, at the half.
The Pioneers held onto the lead coming out of the halftime break, going ahead by as many as six, 38-32, early in the second half. The Redhawks cut the lead to two three different times within the next three minutes, but Sacred Heart increased to an eight point lead, 47-39, with 13:08 remaining in the contest.
SU went on a 12-4 run to tie the game, 51-51, with 8:29 remaining, thanks in part to freshman Catherine Perez (Palo Alto, Calif.) who added five points during the run.
Seattle U retook the lead, 55-53, on a layup by Ashley Ward (Irvine, Calif.) with 6:27 remaining, but the score was tied two more times before the Pioneers retook the lead for the last time, 60-59, at the 4:49 mark.
"As the game went on, we were down, and we realized it was almost over and just knew we had to do something," said Shephard.
With 3:17 remaining, Adhiambo drove the ball in for a layup to put SU up, 61-60, and the Redhawks never looked back, holding onto the lead for the remainder of the game. Koniszewski hit two quick three pointers for Sacred Heart in the final 19 seconds of the game, but it was not enough and Seattle U emerged on top, 74-70 to win the tournament championship.
"Our team is growing," said Bonvicini. "We have a lot of young kids and when we put three freshmen in the middle in the second half, they really gave us a spark. It gave us a chance to rest our starters and when they went back in, they had a renewed focus."
Shephard was named the tournament MVP and Sowell was named to the All-Tournament Team. Other members of the All-Tournament team include Sacred Heart's Washington and Morgan Merriman, Boston College's Kristen Doherty, and Portland's Cassandra Thompson.
Falling in the championship game, Sacred Heart (3-3) finished second in the tournament. Boston College (4-2) finished third after topping Portland (1-5), 68-40, in the consolation game.
Sowell and Shephard led the Redhawks with 20 points apiece, also recording 10 and nine rebounds apiece, respectively. Koniszewski led the Pioneers with 19 points, and three others scored in double figures for Sacred Heart. Makenna Clark got her first career start in the contest, and Perez recorded her first career points.
SU led in field goals (53.7 percent to 42.2 percent) and Sacred Heart led in three-point field goals (36.4 percent to 12.5 percent) and free-throws (80.0 percent to 71.4 percent).
Seattle U continues their home stretch, hosting UC Irvine on Saturday, Dec. 1 at 4 p.m. at the Connolly Center.