Seilund’s 28 points lift Dons
LAS VEGAS — Early in its quarterfinal game against Loyola Marymount on Thursday night, USF, which had only eight active players, watched Kalyn Simon leave the game with an injury and Michaela Rakova pick up her second foul.
No problem. The Dons probably could have played 1-on-5 in their West Coast Conference tournament opener, as long as that one was Anna Seilund.
The senior guard from Denmark was basically USF’s only offense during those bleak early moments and went on to dominate for the rest of the game in leading an 89-76 victory.
“Coming into the game, I was seeking redemption from the last game,” said Seilund, who scored just seven points on 0-for-7 three-point shooting in a Feb. 17 loss to the Lions. “I knew I had to play with a lot of confidence and be really aggressive.”
In beating the Lions (19-11), the fifth-seeded Dons (16-14) advanced to the semifinals, in which they’ll play the winner of Pepperdine-Gonzaga at noon Monday.
Seilund heeded head coach Molly Goodenbour’s pregame challenge of playing with great purpose, scoring a game-high 28 points while tying a career high with six three-pointers. USF tied a WCC tournament record with 14 threes, matching Santa Clara’s total in 2005. Seilund’s seemed to come at just the right times.
Instead of buckling under when they briefly were down to six players, the Dons started playing even better. Seilund scored 15 of the team’s 17 points during a stretch that spanned the first and second quarters and gave USF a 26-13 lead.
It wasn’t until the 3:51 was left in the second quarter that Loyola Marymount’s entire roster matched Seilund’s 18 points.
The Dons led 36-26 at the break and were up 11 with about three minutes to play in the third quarter before a 10-3 Lions run cut it to 52-48 at the 1:18 mark. USF used a 10-1 spurt, with a Seilund three-pointer, at the start of the fourth quarter to extend its lead to 68-51.
Seilund added four rebounds and six assists, Shannon Powell had 24 points, seven rebounds and three assists, and Rakova chipped in 14 points, eight rebounds and four assists.
Loyola Marymount got 14 points from Chelsey Gipson on a flurry of late three-pointers and 13 apiece from Jasmine Jones and Cal transfer Gabby Green, who added six rebounds and seven assists on a night when the Lions couldn’t find their shooting range. The Lions missed their first 12 three-point attempts and finished the night 6-for-27 from distance.
On the other side, Seilund needed only 10 attempts to make six three-pointers.
“Hitting those threes makes you feel good and gives you a confidence boost,” Seilund said. “I don’t really think about it too much when I’m out there, but after the game looking at it, I was like: ‘Wow. Did I really hit six?’ ”