Western women turn back Saint Martin's upset bid
The top-seeded Western Washington University women escaped an upset by feisty Saint Martin鈥檚 University, beating the No. 9 seed, 60-54 in the quarterfinal round of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference tournament Thursday afternoon at Marcus Pavilion in Lacey.
It was the tournament opener for the Vikings, ranked No. 14 and No. 22 nationally in polls. Western Washington came in with a conference-best defense and needed every bit of it to turn back Saint Martin鈥檚, which had to win a play-in game Wednesday against No. 8 Western Oregon.
Western, the regular-season conference champion, needed clutch play late from leading scorer Emma Duff to turn back Saint Martin鈥檚, playing on its home court, to advance to Friday鈥檚 2:15 p.m. semifinal against No. 5 Montana State Billings.