Courtesey of the Calfornia Pacific Conference

MESA, Ariz. - Third seed Embry-Riddle advanced to Monday's women's semifinals with a 67-58 win over Benedictine Mesa, giving head coach Michael Trujillo his 100th career win in the process. ERAU will face #2 Simpson in the second women's semi, at 2:30 PST on Monday, February 27.

Zakiirah King (17 points) and Kate McBride (10) led the Eagles, who improved to 19-10 overall. 

Dyamond Butler-Worley topped BENU (14-14) with 21 points.

The first quarter opened with Benedictine-Mesa jumping to an 11-5 lead, but the tide turned in the Eagles' favor midway through the period when regular starter Susie Reynoso came off the bench. ERAU picked up the pace and outscored the Redhawks 15-4 over the final 5 minutes, taking a 20-15 lead at the first break

BENU shaved a point off the first period deficit, closing to 35-32 at the half. ERAU's Zakiirah King and BENU's Dyamond Butler-Worley each had 11 to lead the first-half scorers. The two teams each shot 33.3% from the field, and the rebounding (24-23) and turnover (10-9) numbers were close.

The Redhawks took their first lead since the 1st quarter early in the third, and led 44-40 with 6 minutes to go. But leading 46-45 at the 4:13 mark, BENU was shutout the rest of the period. ERAU women ran off a 9-0 run over the final 3 minutes of the 3rd quarter to take a 54-46 lead over BENU entering the 4th. The Eagles' Kate McBride got the last 6 of those in the paint, with each bucket spaced almost exactly one minute apart.

The 4th started with BENU bucket and the Redhawks closed to within 6. But at the 6 minute mark, sophomore forward grabbed an offensive rebound in traffic for a put-back, then stepped out on the next possession and buried a 3, accelerating ERAU up 59-50.

But back came BEN with a 6-0 run of their own, with Butler-Worley scoring on back-to-back possessions and Coldwell knocking down a pair of free throws to make it 59-56 with 3:30 left.