WOMEN’S BIG WEST CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT

Big West Tournament: Anderson sparkles in rally

Anderson scores six of her 18 points in the final 1:11 as Cal Poly overcomes a 19-point deficit to beat Pacific in quarterfinal game

By Brian Milne

ANAHEIM --

Sparkle Anderson refused to let her career come to an end.

The senior guard scored six of her season-high 18 points in the final 1:11 as the Cal Poly women’s basketball team overcame a 19-point deficit to beat Pacific 79-76 in the quarterfinals of the Big West Conference Tournament on Wednesday.

Anderson’s 3-pointer with 1:11 remaining tied the score 75-75 to set up a wild and controversial finish at the Anaheim Convention Center.

The 5-foot-2 Anderson also sank two free throws with 26.8 seconds left for the lead and added a third with 1.1 seconds remaining.

The game ended when Megan Harrison and Ashlee Stewart broke up a long

inbound pass to Amy VanHollebeke in front of the Pacific bench, setting off a green and gold frenzy at midcourt where Anderson was mobbed by head coach Faith Mimnaugh and her teammates.

Cal Poly’s second-straight tournament victory puts the Mustangs (13-18) in today’s noon semifinal against rival and top-seeded UC Santa Barbara (21-7).

“I wanted this one pretty bad,” Anderson said. “Coach Faith at halftime pointed me out and asked ‘Do you want this to be your last game?’ In my head, I was like ‘nope.’ I just went out there and played as hard as I could.”

Pacific, which held a 19-point lead late in the first half and was up 45-28 at the break, responded to Anderson’s first 3-pointer of the tournament by going to leading scorer Janae Young in the post. Young went to the basket and appeared to have the shot blocked by Cal Poly forward Lisa McBride before a late whistle from official Tony Feroah sent McBride to the bench with five fouls.

Young hit the second of her two free throws to give Pacific a 76-75 lead with 45 seconds left.

Cal Poly went to Anderson at the other end and the senior guard backed Jasmine Dana down to the paint where Dana was whistled for hand checking. Anderson made both free throws to give Cal Poly its first lead since the 8:25 mark in the first half.

“Yeah I did think there was” a lot of late whistles, Pacific head coach Lynne Roberts said. There was “a hand-checking foul with 25 seconds left, but it doesn’t matter what I think.”

Cal Poly forward Rebecca Tratter, who matched a career high with 16 points, then escaped a traveling violation at midcourt when officials said she was pushed by Young, her fifth foul of the game.

Tratter called the steal “payback” for a loose ball Young beat her to in a heartbreaking loss to Pacific in overtime Feb. 23. The Mustangs also lost to the Tigers in overtime Jan. 28.

“I felt like I was pushed, but someone, one of the coaches, said it was a travel,” she said. “I don’t really know. All I was thinking was that I gotta get that steal.”

Tratter hit one of two free throws to give Cal Poly a 78-76 lead, and the Mustangs dodged another bullet when Kelsey Lavender missed a 3-pointer with two seconds left. Lavender had hit 5 of 12 from long range, finishing with game-high 21 points.

“I was open and it just didn’t fall,” Lavender said. “We couldn’t get stuff at the end.”

While there was only one lead change after halftime, there were seven in the early going before Cal Poly managed just two field goals in the final eight minutes of the first half.

Pacific shot 43.3 percent in the first half but did most of its damage from the free-throw line, going 15 of 21. The Tigers also outrebounded Cal Poly 27-18 in the first half.

McBride, however, started the Mustangs rally by scoring their first seven points of the second half.

McBride, who also defended all-conference second teamer Young (six points), finished with 12 points, six rebounds and four assists.

“Young destroyed us the last time we played against them,” Mimnaugh said of a 26-point outburst. “…Fortunately Lisa was able to hang in there for a good portion of the game and deserves a lot of credit for this victory.”

Cal Poly closed with a 28-8 run, with the comeback becoming a reality when Anderson hit a turnaround jumper with 8:50 left to cut it to 63-60.

Anderson also got the crowd going when she stripped Van- Hollebeke and hit Megan Harrison in the open floor for a layup with 1:56 remaining. On the ensuing possession, Anderson drilled the game-tying 3-pointer off an assist from Kristina Santiago (11 points, four assists).

As a team, Cal Poly tallied 25 assists — led by Stewart’s nine — and matched a program record by committing only 10 turnovers.

“We came out with great confidence in the second half and knew that we had to make every second count on the court,” Mimnaugh said. “And I know Sparkle Anderson didn’t want her career to stop tonight.”

“Not at all,” Anderson replied with a smile. “Not at all.”