Western women turn back Saint Martin's upset bid

The top-seeded Western Washington University women escaped an upset by feisty Saint Martin’s University, beating the No. 9 seed, 60-54 in the quarterfinal round of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference tournament Thursday afternoon at Marcus Pavilion in Lacey.

It was the tournament opener for the Vikings, ranked No. 14 and No. 22 nationally in polls. Western Washington came in with a conference-best defense and needed every bit of it to turn back Saint Martin’s, which had to win a play-in game Wednesday against No. 8 Western Oregon.

Western, the regular-season conference champion, needed clutch play late from leading scorer Emma Duff to turn back Saint Martin’s, playing on its home court, to advance to Friday’s 2:15 p.m. semifinal against No. 5 Montana State Billings.