NEIL K. WARNER - Daily Herald | Posted: Saturday, December 31, 2005 12:00 am
Coming off a holiday break, shooting 33 percent in the first half and committing 20 turnovers for the game, UVSC was in desperate need of a little boost Friday night when it hosted Gonzaga.
The Wolverines needed a spark. Someone to help push them over the top.
Tah dah -- enter Miriam Palkki.
Palkki, the do-it-all senior forward, helped UVSC outscore Gonzaga 14-4 in the final six minutes of the game to led UVSC to a 60-51 win.
Gonzaga led for most of the first half and looked like it might be able to overcome its shooting deficiency (34 percent for the game). But Palkki didn't let that happen.
Palkki led UVSC with a double-double, 18 points and 11 rebounds, and keyed the team's second-half run that helped UVSC pull away for good.
"With her experience, she's the kind of kid that's so consistent. She really is emerging," said UVSC coach Cathy Nixon. "The other night against Portland, she got a rebound when we needed it and tonight she hit her free throws when we needed them. It's given everyone else a sense of confidence that good things are happening for us."
Palkki, the former Timpview High School star, scored with 5:55 left in the game to give UVSC a 48-47 lead.
After Gonzaga's Stephanie Hawk countered with two free throws to give the Bulldogs the lead back, Palkki scored again to give the Wolverines the lead for good.
UVSC's run continued with a free throw from Hollie Beaman and a pair of free throws from Sandy Marvin with 2:27 left in the game.
Beaman gave UVSC its biggest lead of the night when she powered down the lane and scored on a driving layup with 1:50 remaining to push the lead to 55-49. Palkki added two more free throws at the 1:17 mark and Beaman sank two free throws with 56 seconds left. Ashley Grimm then made 1-of-2 free throws with 36 seconds remaining, but Palkki was there to grab the rebound and put the game away.
"Our focus was on defense. They hadn't won a game when they scored under 60, so that was one of our big goals was to hold them under 60," Palkki said. "We were talking in the locker room about respect. They didn't show up for the shoot-around. We thought that was kind of disrespectful. We showed them here that they should show us respect. We deserve it. We work hard."
The win avenged UVSC's 87-41 loss at Gonzaga last year and helped the Wolverines improve to 4-8 on the year. Gonzaga fell to 4-10.
"The reality of the situation is three years ago we were a junior college team and last year they had the longest winning streak in the nation," Nixon added. "They are a different team now, but the tradition they have is huge. I thought our kids dug down deep and found a way to get some stops when we had to have them."
Gonzaga took a 30-25 lead at the half due in large part to 16 points from Hawk. But UVSC's defense tightened down on Hawk and the Bulldogs in the second half.
Hawk had just three points in the second half and, as a team, Gonzaga shot just 26 percent in the final 20 minutes.
In addition to Palkki's 18 points, Robyn Fairbanks had 12 points and nine rebounds and Beaman finished with 10 points. Rebekah Peterson helped UVSC make a statement on defense. She lead the Wolverines with three steals.
This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page C1.