POMONA, Ca. (Mar. 9)-Stephanie Urrutia scored a career high 27 points including 11 in a row with just under ten minutes to play in the second half, to lift Seattle Pacific University over Alaska Fairbanks in the semi-final game of the NCAA West Region tournament. The Falcons advance to tomorrow (Friday, March 9) night's championship game.

In addition to Urrutia's heroics, Gus Balogh poured in 22 points for SPU and teammate Valerie Gustafson had 18 to round out three Falcons in double figures.

When asked about Seattle Pacific's success, head coach Gordy Presnell was extatic.

"It's been a wonderful year for us and we're excited about playing in the championship. The year's been full of adversity. We lost last year's leading scorer during the summer, our leading rebounder, Kristin Poe (So., Enumclaw, Wa.) in the fall to a knee injury and our starting point guard, Kerie Hughes (So., Mount Vernon, Wa.) to a torn ACL when league play started. Our kids have really battled back and I am proud of them because Fairbanks gave us a great effort."

Deanna Age opened up the scoring in the game for Fairbanks, connecting on an 18-footer to give the Nanooks one of their two leads in the contest. The game was played within five points for much of the first ten minutes until Gustafson (Fr., Olympia, Wa./Black Hills) ignited a 9-2 SPU run.

With 12:05 to play in the first period, Gustafson was fouled on a drive to the bucket and promptly canned a pair of free throws to start the run in which she scored six of the Falcons' nine points. In fact, 16 of Gustafson's 18 points came during a 12-minute stretch in the opening period. The freshman connected on seven of eight shots during the half and led Seattle Pacific into the locker room with a 39-32 advantage.

The Falcons came out firing in the second half and jumped out to a 45-32 lead with 19:02 to play. However, the Nanooks crawled back and with 9:58 to play in the game, Deanna Age connected on a trey to pull Fairbanks within two, 53-51, but two possessions later, Stephanie Urrutia (So., Sunnyside, Wa.) answered with a 19-footer to push the Falcons' lead back to four. The sophomore point guard then went on a 11-point tear, hitting back-to-back three-pointers consecutive trips down the court to boost SPU's lead back to 10, 62-52.

When asked about the scoring outburst, the sophomore replied, "I got some good looks. We have a lot of go-to people that can score on any given night. Tonight was my night, tomorrow could be someone else's."

Fairbanks' Head Coach Jenny Benson praised Urrutia.

"Some of Urrutia's treys were so deep that our defender couldn't do much."

The Nanooks moved within five points of SPU when Denise Perez hit a trey from the top of the key with 3:28 to play, but never got any closer.

Urrutia and Balogh drained four free throws apiece in the last two and a half minutes to preserve Seattle Pacific's victory.

Urrutia was nine of 14 from the field on the night including three of five from beyond the three-point arc. Urrutia also had seven rebounds and five assists. Seattle Pacific out-rebounded the Nanooks 41-32.

The Falcons (24-4), winners of 13 of their last 14 games advance to the West Regional Championship Game against the winner of Friday's 7:00 match up between Cal Poly Pomona and Western Washington. The Championship tip-off is scheduled for tomorrow (Saturday, March 10) night at 7:00.

SEATTLE PACIFIC 84, ALASKA FAIRBANKS 75

SPU:
Holme 3, Balogh 22, Guppy 2, Prescott 7, Urrutia 27, Beard, Hughes, Daniel 5, Lukkes, Gustafson 18.

AFU:
Wolf 15, Age 9, Arts 11, Perea 14, Wagoner 14, Chan, Chihuly, Kupzyk 2, McIlhenny 4, Lebon, Cummings, Webb, Marshall, Woodruff 6.