Kennedy Dickie scored 16 points and Emme Shearer hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:39 to play to help Portland upset No. 14 Gonzaga 67-66 in the West Coast Conference championship game on Tuesday in Las Vegas.
Third-seeded Portland (21-12) ended top-seeded Gonzaga’s 24-game winning streak and earned the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year. The Bulldogs (30-3), who beat Portland 90-40 on Feb. 28, should still make the tournament as an at-large team.
In a game that featured 23 lead changes and 17 ties, the Pilots outshot the Bulldogs 54.2 percent to 37.1 percent from the field and 50 percent to 25 percent from deep. Maisie Burnham scored 15 points, Shearer had 12 and Lucy Cochrane posted 11 points and seven rebounds for Portland.
Dickie’s 3-pointer with 5:32 to play put Portland ahead 61-56, but Gonzaga scored the next six points. Finally, Shearer’s triple was the dagger, as Kaylynne Truong made a 2-pointer for the Bulldogs before they missed their final three shots of the game.
Yvonne Ejim had 17 points and 11 rebounds and Eliza Hollingsworth put up 13 points and 11 rebounds for the Bulldogs, whose last loss came Nov. 26 to a then-No. 20 Louisville team.
No. 21 UNLV 62, Colorado State 52
Amarachi Kimpson came off the bench to score a game-high 18 points, propelling the Lady Rebels past the Rams in the semifinals of the Mountain West tournament in Las Vegas.
Kiara Jackson added 12 points for UNLV (29-2), which earned its 14th consecutive victory. The top-seeded Rebels will oppose either sixth-seeded Boise State or seventh-seeded San Diego State in the final on Wednesday.
Marta Leimane was the only player to score in double figures for Colorado State (20-11), finishing with 15 points. The Rams had won five of their previous six games.
–Field Level Media
