{"id":11970,"date":"2017-03-11T15:16:34","date_gmt":"2017-03-11T23:16:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/athletics\/?p=11970"},"modified":"2017-03-12T00:45:04","modified_gmt":"2017-03-12T08:45:04","slug":"bulldogs-second-half-rally-stuns-centralia-in-nwac-womens-tournament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/athletics\/2017\/03\/11\/bulldogs-second-half-rally-stuns-centralia-in-nwac-womens-tournament\/","title":{"rendered":"Bulldogs Second-Half Rally Stuns Centralia in NWAC Women\u2019s Tournament"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brenda Akoto scored 13 points, including the go-ahead layin, and Molly Dixon hit a pair of crucial free throws in the closing seconds as Bellevue College overcame a 12-point halftime deficit to rally past Centralia 52-48<\/a> in the opening round of the women\u2019s NWAC Championship Tournament<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Bulldogs (19-9) advanced to the Elite 8 on Sunday at 4 p.m. against spokane (24-4), a 70-57 winner over Linn-Benton.<\/p>\n

\"Molly<\/a>
Molly Dixon hit the game-clinching free throws. Photo by Tracy Swisher, NWAC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bellevue, which trailed36-24 at the half, turned up the defensive intensity in the second half, holding the Trailblazers to just five points in the third quarter and seven in the fourth.\u00a0 BC limited Centralia to just 4 field goals in 28 attempts in the second half.<\/p>\n

\u201cI talked to our girls at the half and told them the difference was going to be heard and effort,\u201d said Bellevue coach Mel Stubblefield. \u201cIn the second half, we came out and we had heart and we had effort. That, to me, was the difference between the first half and the second half.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bulldogs trailed 41-35 after three quarters, but scored scored six consecutive points, going in front 46-45 on Brenda Akoto\u2019s three-point play with 3:48 remaining.<\/p>\n

\"Brenda<\/a>
Brenda Akoto (25) had 13 points and 14 rebounds. Photo by Tracy Swisher, NWAC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Centralia standout Kylie Smith, who finished with 18 points and 14 rebounds, countered with an inside basket, but missed the add-on free throw to put the Trailblazers up 47-46 with 3:30 left. Centralia would not score again until the final 10 seconds.<\/p>\n

With 2:06 remaining, Brenda Akota banked in the short layin from the left side to put the Bulldogs ahead 48-47.<\/p>\n

Dixon hit one of two free throws with 48.3 seconds left, and Akoto hit one of two with 20.4 seconds remaining to put BC up 50-47.<\/p>\n

Centralia\u2019s Tianno Hanohano was fouled on a 3-point attempt with 9.9 seconds left, making only the first of three free throws to cut the lead to 50-48.<\/p>\n

\"Martina<\/a>
Martina Mason hit two early 3-pointers. Photo by Tracy Swisher, NWAC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bellevue\u2019s Sierra Cole missed two free throws with 8.4 seconds left, but the loose ball rebound went out of bounds to the Bulldogs.<\/p>\n

Dixon was fouled with five seconds left and hit both free throws to give BC a 52-48, two-possession lead.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe shut them down for the most part,\u201d Stubblefield said. \u201cThey scored five points in third, seven in the fourth, and that was just us getting after it. Staying down on our feet, not really fouling, so we were moving our feet, making them shoot the bad shots, or forcing the shots. And, we took our time on offense.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dixon and Erin Hamilton each added 12 points for BC, while Melinda Akoto added 8 rebounds to help the Bulldogs to a 57-42 advantage on the boards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brenda Akototat scored 13 points, including the go-ahead layin, and Molly Dixon hit a pair of crucial free throws in the closing seconds as Bellevue College overcame a 12-point halftime deficit to rally past Centralia 52-48 in the opening round of the women\u2019s NWAC Championship Tournament on Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":310,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[32,6,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","category-news","category-womens-basketball"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/310"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11970"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11970\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12030,"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11970\/revisions\/12030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}