POMONA, Calif. (Mar. 7) - Despite 23 points from Kelley Berglund and 15 more from Michelle Beaumont, No. 9-ranked Seattle Pacific University's (22-6) season came to a close in the first round of the NCAA Division II West Regional as Cal State Bakersfield overcame a halftime deficit to beat the Falcons 96-84 at Kellogg Gym in Pomona, California.

Cal State Bakersfield (23-5) moves into Friday's semifinal round where it will meet No. 1-seed and tournament host Cal Poly Pomona.

Diane Dittburner's red-hot three-point shooting and Heather Garay's dominance of the low post for Bakersfield combined for 39 points in the second half alone and halted a series of Seattle Pacific attempts to retake the lead. Once the Falcons began pressuring the red-hot Dittburner on the perimeter, the Roadrunners went inside to Garay for an onslaught of uncontested lay-ins.

Bakersfield snatched the lead from the Falcons for good at the 17:05 mark in the second half and never looked back, proceeding on a 44-26 run that gave them a game-high 18-point lead with under five minutes to play.

Seattle Pacific coach Gordy Presnell was disappointed his team could not keep up with Bakersfield's up-tempo play.

"They beat us in the every phase of the game. I thought that we would be able to run with them, but over the course of forty minutes, we were unable to do that," said Presnell.

Dittburner and Garay combined for 57 of Bakersfield's 96 total points, scoring 26 and 31, respectively. The Roadrunners shot 56 percent in the second half on 19-for-34 shooting.

"We did not defend their two best players like we had hoped to. They really stepped up and hit some really difficult shots, particularly in the second half of play," said Presnell.

The Falcons managed to weather the Bakersfield offensive storm for the majority of the second half thanks to strong shooting by Beaumont Fr., 5-11, Bellingham, Wa./Sehome) who scored 10 of her 15 points in the second half.

SPU pulled to within eight at the 7:28 mark on a jumper by Beaumont, but proceeded to give up six straight unanswered baskets to squelch any chance of a comeback.

Both teams displayed shaky nerves in the first half. The Falcons missed a handful of lay-ins and committed 15 turnovers that kept them from maintaining a commanding lead. The Falcons shot 46 percent from the floor and four-for-seven from behind the three-point arc to take a one basket lead into the lockerroom at halftime.

Kerie Hughes (Jr., 5-6, Mt. Vernon, Wa./Mt. Vernon) joined Berglund (Jr., 6-3, Port Angeles, Wa./Washington State) and Beaumont in double-figures with 11 points. Berglund also matched her career-high total for steals with four.

She was 10-for-15 from the floor and hauled in a team-high nine rebounds.

CSUB -- Garay 11-20 9-13 31, Dittburner 7-18 8-11 26 , Armstrong 4-8 2-3 12, Stoddard 2-4 0-0 4, Fabulic 5-10 2-2 12, Hansen 4-9 1-3 9, Lillich 0-1 0-0 0, Wade 1-3 0-0 2, Kelley 0-0 0-0 0, Eszliner 0-0 0-0 0.

SPU -- Gustafson 3-5 1-2 7, Berglund 10-15 3-4 23, Hughes 3-10 4-5 11, Poe 2-6 0-0 6, Urrutia 2-7 0-0 4, Hermanson 1-2 0-0 2, Faurholt 3-8 2-2 9, Beaumont 7-9 0-0 15, Lukkes 1-3 0-0 2, Cadotte 1-1 0-0 3, Duffin 1-1 0-0 2, Isaacson 0-0 0-0 0, Duffin 1-1 0-0 2.

Halftime -- SPU 39, CSB 37