Cal wins, advances to Division II Final Four

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Emma Mahady’s steal and basket in the waning moments of overtime helped propel California University to the NCAA Division II Women’s Basketball Final Four. Mahady finished with a game-high 24 points and grabbed five rebounds, and the Vulcans held on down the stretch to defeat Nova Southeastern 84-79.
“I could just see it in her eyes that that’s where she was going,” Mahady said. “I took the gamble and it paid off. If it wouldn’t have, I would have been in trouble. But, it worked. I’m happy.”
Cal (30-4) advances to play ninth-ranked Emporia State (29-4) in the semifinals tonight. Tipoff is 7 p.m. Emporia State defeated fifth-ranked West Texas A&M 62-50 in the second game of the Elite Eight.
Despite the win, Cal nearly let it slip away. It took some time, but the Vulcans were finally able to break away from a tight game midway through the second half and eventually built their biggest lead at 69-60 with 5:40 to play.
At that point, Cal looked to be in great shape as the game featured 15 ties and 12 lead changes. But Nova Southeastern went on a run of its own after the nine-point deficit and tied the game with nine seconds to play on a pair of free throws.
But the Vulcans, who’ve won eight straight and 16 of their last 17 games, never trailed in overtime and Cal is now just two games away from its second national championship in school history.
The Vulcans last won the title in 2004.
“I think we did everything possible to lose that game,” Cal coach Jess Strom said. “I never know if these kids have one more in them, but they just keep coming up with big plays and they have a refuse-to-lose attitude. We’ve been carrying that with us throughout these playoffs, and I hope we have two more in us.”
Danielle Robinson led the Sharks (27-6) with 20 points, and she got the attention of Cal all day. Robinson entered the averaging 13.7 points per game, but she nearly had that at halftime. She finished with 20 points, and found herself double-teamed in the second half on several trips down the floor.
“We knew coming in that she was a very good player,” Strom said. “We tried to force her baseline, but she’s a good player who can get to the rim and can score. I think early she got by us a little bit, but our rotation was good. If we got beat, hopefully our rotation was there and I think it was a couple of times.”
Cal ended the opening half at a solid clip from the floor, shooting 52 percent. But despite the good shooting, the Vulcans had a tough time distancing themselves from Nova Southeastern as the Sharks were also hot from the field, shooting 47 percent as the score ended tied 42-42.
The Vulcans cooled in the second half and scored just one field goal in the final 5:40 of regulations after taking their 69-60 lead.
“We’re not really known for our offense,” Strom said. “I expect there are going to be periods of times where we don’t score, but it doesn’t really affect us and we learn to live with it. We expect those kinds of runs and we expect that we’re not going to score for a while. But if our defense holds up, eventually our shots are going to fall.”
Kaitlynn Fratz added 21 points, including a couple of monster buckets in the extra period. She started out the scoring in overtime with a deep 3-pointer, but Nova Southeastern answered with a banked-in three moments later to tie the game for the 15th time.
When Alexis Murphy hit a runner for Nova Southeastern as the shot clock expired with just 90 seconds to play to cut the lead to three, the Sharks still had life. But Fratz countered with a nifty runner in the paint the next time down the floor, lifting the Vulcans’ lead back to five with just over a minute to play.
Cal missed two free throws with 11 seconds left, giving Nova Southeastern a final chance, but Mahady’s steal and layup sealed the win for the Vulcans, who won for the first time at the Elite Eight since 2004.
Miki Glenn scored 17 points and Irina Kukolj had 14, including five in overtime, as the Vulcans finished with four players scoring in double figures.