Mar 25, 2015 5 min read

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – California University entered Wednesday’s Final Four contest against Emporia State on a scoring surge, averaging nearly 78 points per game in their first four tournament outings. But it was an impressive defensive effort that propelled the Vulcans to the national championship game with a 51-46 victory over Emporia State.

Emporia’s 48 points is a season low, and Cal made the Hornets earn every basket in the second half. The Hornets managed just 15 second-half points and shot a dismal 22 percent from the field in the second half.

Irina Kukolj led the Vulcans (31-4) with 13 points and 11 rebounds, her first double-double of the season. Kaitlynn Fratz scored 14 points and the team’s leading scorer, Miki Glenn, added 12 points.

Cal will play California Baptist (29-6) in the championship game Friday night. Tipoff is 8 p.m. The game will be televised live by CBS Sports Network.

California Baptist, which was the No. 5 seed in the West Regional, advanced with an 85-67 win over Limestone (S.C.) in the other semifinal game.

Emporia State (29-5) got off to a quick start, and it looked like the Hornets would make it a foot race. They hit their first four shots of the game and built a 10-4 lead. The quick start looked to have Cal on its heels, but the Vulcans stayed in it and trailed by just one point at halftime.

“We didn’t play very well and we knew we didn’t play our best basketball, but we were only down one,” Cal head coach Jess Strom said. “We knew coming out that it was our ball to start the half, so we thought if we could get a score, it’s an even game again.”

The Hornets shot 44 percent from the field in the first half, and had some easy looks at the basket throughout the opening frame. Emporia State cooled as the half went on, in part to some great interior defense, and in part to 6-3 senior Marissa Quick missing some wide-open layups. Quick had 10 points at halftime, but she missed a chance at a monster half.

But ESU’s looks dried up in the second half as Cal changed their defense and stuck a stifling 3-2 zone on the Hornets, and ESU never responded for the balance of the game.

“Our league is mostly a man-to-man league, and we’ll occasionally see a zone, but nothing for that extended amount of time,” said Emporia State coach Jory Collins. “We were absolutely inept on offense the entire second half. A lot of that is my responsibility because we didn’t do a good job of attacking that zone. We just couldn’t score.”

The Vulcans took a little momentum into the break when Fratz scored at the buzzer. They opened the second half on a quick bucket from Glenn and Cal had the lead for only the second time of the night at 32-31.

At the 6:55 mark, ESU’s Addie Lackey air-balled a three-pointer and the Hornets were shooting just 25 percent from the field in the second half. It only got worse from there for the Hornets. Meanwhile, Cal picked it up a notch when Glenn scored a pair of free throws with 6:16 to play for the Vulcans’ largest lead of the game at 48-42 lead.

Despite the great defensive effort, Cal didn’t necessarily shoot the lights out, either. They finished shooting a season-low 29 percent from the field and scored just 21 second-half points.

“I know there are times when we’re not going to shoot that great,” Strom said. “I expect spells where we don’t score, so that (29 percent) doesn’t shock me. We talked about it late in the game when we were up five. We weren’t talking offense, all we needed was stops. Once we feel like we get up, if we can get some stops, we feel like we can win games.”

Kelsey Barnwell’s three-pointer for ESU with 15:48 to play gave the Hornets a 38-37 lead. After Barnwell’s score, ESU managed just three buckets for the remainder of the game and Cal took advantage.

Fratz matched Barnwell’s long ball with a three-pointer of her own just moments later, and the Vulcans took the lead for good at 40-38.

“To give up just 15 points in the second half is pretty amazing, especially when we’re so undersized,” Strom said. “We just gutted it out somehow, some way. That’s the identity of our team and hopefully it takes us to one more win.”

Cal won the national championship in 2004, defeating Drury (Mo.), 75-72, in St. Joseph, Mo. … The Vulcans are 27-11 all-time in NCAA tournament games.