When foul trouble seriously weakened Western Kentucky`s foundation, coach Paul Sanderford could do nothing but wait for things to crumble.
But not even the loss of three starters with eight minutes left to play could shake its structure, and Western Kentucky held off Southwest Missouri State 84-72 in Saturday`s first semifinal of the women`s NCAA Final Four at the Los Angeles Sports Arena.
The victory puts the Lady Hilltoppers (27-7) in Sunday`s national championship game against Stanford (3 p.m., Ch. 2) in the school`s first title appearance. It is a showing the whole team deserves to make, not just the five starters.
”Our bench was the difference in the game,” said Sanderford, who lost forwards Debbie Scott and Liesa Lang just 30 seconds apart and center Paulette Monroe two minutes later with 8:06 left.
Every healthy Western Kentucky player checked into the game, and reserves Debbie Houk (10 points), Kristie Jordan (8) and Jennifer Berryman (6)
outscored three starters.
”The bench is why we`re here,” said 5-foot-7-inch senior guard Kim Pehlke, who scored a career-high 30 points and hit 11 of 13 free throws, all in the second half.
”We backed off (on pressure defense) when we got in foul trouble,”
added Sanderford. ”We did some things defensively that bought us time.”
The Toppers used an early 14-2 run in the first half to build a 23-12 lead and stayed ahead by at least seven through the first half. But when Monroe became the third Lady Topper to head for the bench, Southwest Missouri closed to 56-50 with 7:36 to play.
Pehlke stopped the momentum swing by hitting her first four free throws to make it 60-50, and the book began to close on Southwest Missouri State`s Cinderella season.
”It`s a historic level for a program to be part of a Final Four,” said Southwest Missouri coach Cheryl Burnett, whose eighth-seeded team (31-3) was the lowest ever to reach the Final Four. ”Now we understand what it`s like being here, but you`re not satisfied with being just a part of it. You want to keep going.”
Both teams applied an aggressive pressure defense that made the game look sloppy but helped set several semifinal records. Western Kentucky`s 18 steals broke the mark of 16 set by Auburn in 1988, and the Toppers set the record for most players lost on fouls (four) and most fouls committed (32).
Pehlke`s five steals tied for the second highest total in an NCAA semifinal with Maryland`s Deanne Tate, and her 30 points tied for third with Venus Lacy of Louisiana Tech.
”I didn`t realize how many free throws I had,” said Pehlke. ”I was shocked I had 30 points.”
