Jensen's big game leads Southern Utah women to WAC final

LAS VEGAS — Megan Jensen had a career game, and moved Southern Utah women's basketball within a game of the NCAA Tournament.

Jensen tied a career high with 22 points and added eight rebounds, and Cherita Daugherty had 16 points, eight rebounds and four assists as the Thunderbirds cruised past Grand Canyon 64-51 Friday afternoon at Orleans Arena.

Tomekia Whitman scored 10 points with four rebounds before fouling out with less than two minutes left for SUU (22-9).

"I wish I could take credit, but it's not me," said SUU head coach Tracy Sanders, who is in her fifth year leading the first-year WAC program. "They're the ones who put the work in every day and make the plays."

None were bigger on Friday than Jensen, who went 9-of-17 from the field and 4-of-9 from the free-throw line, with an assist, and a steal.

"I was just really prepared to defend the bigs," Jensen said. "I wasn't going to be outdone. I have really good coaches who let me know that I was going to be better.

"With this team, it's incredible. Any one of us can go off. It can be C, Sam (Johnston, who had 5 points, three rebounds and three assists), Tomekia; it was just my game tonight."

Grand Canyon shot just 33% in the first quarter, but forced seven turnovers to lead until the Thunderbirds ended the quarter on a 9-2 run to go up 16-12.

Jensen, an Utah Valley transfer who prepped at Emery High, totaled 16 points and three rebounds to lead Southern Utah to a 31-20 halftime advantage.

The senior added a layup with 4:35 left in the third quarter to stretch the Thunderbirds' lead to 46-28 on three straight makes, and SUU led by as much as 20 en route to a 51-37 advantage to start the fourth quarter.

The Lopes cut the deficit inside of single digits on Naudia Evans' triple with 6:34 to go. But SUU immediately answered through Whitman, and Daugherty helped close out her second game in a row en route to their first WAC Tournament final.

"I had a lot more turnovers than I would've wanted to," said Daugherty, who had a viral game-winner at the buzzer to beat New Mexico State in the quarterfinals. "But being that I'm so old probably helps, with the experience. We've been able to force a lot of close games, and a lot of games where we've had to decide to push the tempo or slow it down. That's been big, just to know when to slow it down and when to stay the course."

Not quite wire-to-wire, the Thunderbirds led for all but two minutes of the game.

"They're a veteran team; you can tell," GCU coach Molly Miller said. "They've got a lot of upperclassmen on the floor. … On the flip side of that, we're very young and inexperienced. I think this only helps us going forward.

"The future is really bright for this team, although it stings right now."

Picked to finish sixth in the league in the WAC preseason coaches' poll (and eighth by league media), the Thunderbirds overturned a 6-7 nonconference finish that included losses to Gonzaga, Oregon, Colorado and Utah to win the WAC regular-season championship with a 6-2 regular.

Still, because of the WAC's resume seeding system, SUU took the No. 2 seed into the conference tournament. Now they'll be the higher-seeded squad in Saturday's final after California Baptist upset top-seeded Stephen F. Austin 69-64, with the winner earning the conference's automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.

And those home white uniforms will get another day of use.

"It's a credit to all the work that they've put in," Sanders said. "They really have come together.

"March is about who's playing well. It's about chemistry. We had a really tough preseason, and there were times I was kicking myself. But the biggest thing that came out of that was chemistry. This is a team that's going to fight back; we've been tested almost every way."

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