Oakland, Mich. 65, W. Illinois 56

3/7/2006 5:14 PM

By JEFF LATZKE
AP Sports Writer

TULSA, Okla. (AP) - Anne Hafeli matched her season high with 25 points and Nicole Piggott added 14 points and nine rebounds as Oakland upset top-seeded Western Illinois 65-56 to win the Mid-Continent Conference title game Tuesday and advance to the NCAA tournament.

Zane Teilane scored a career-high 28 points and set a conference tournament record with 22 rebounds for Western Illinois (23-6), but the Westerwinds lost in the conference tournament after winning the regular-season title for the fourth straight season. It was the first time they made it as far as the championship game.

As a consolation this season, they automatically receive a bid to the Women's NIT.

The Golden Grizzlies (15-15) rushed off the bench and celebrated in a huddle at midcourt. They walked by the Westerwinds' bench to shake hands with their opponents, then prepared to cut down the nets.

Sixth-seeded Oakland beat the conference's top three seeds in ascending order to win the tournament on the same floor where the school's seventh-seeded men's team earned a stunning first NCAA tournament berth last year by upsetting top-seeded Oral Roberts.

Beckie Francis, who resigned as Oakland's coach due to an illness before the 2002-03 season, returned after three seasons away to guide the Golden Grizzlies to their second NCAA tournament appearance. The other came in 2001-02, Francis' previous season on the sidelines.

Western Illinois rallied from a 12-point second-half deficit to get within 58-53 on back-to-back baskets by Teilane, the two-time conference player of the year, but didn't score another field goal after that.

Even with the 6-foot-7 center from Latvia, Western Illinois was outrebounded 48-42 and lost despite forcing 17 Oakland turnovers. The Westerwinds shot just 29 percent.

Western Illinois scored the game's first six points but then gave up a 12-0 run featuring bookend 3-pointers from Piggott and never caught up with the Golden Grizzlies, whose lead reached 21-10 when Hafeli made a 3-pointer from the top of the key. Oakland led 31-24 at halftime.

Bonnie Baker scored four points and Hafeli had a three-point play during a string of seven straight points that gave the Golden Grizzlies their largest lead of the game at 44-32.

Teilane scored 10 of Western Illinois' next 16 points to try to mount a comeback. She still was able to pass Robin Hasemann to set the Westerwinds' career record for scoring. She's already the school's all-time leading rebounder.