KEARNEY, Neb. ? Cold field goal shooting  foiled the Alaska Anchorage women's bid to play for a national championship as the Seawolves fell 57-54 to Northern Kentucky in the NCAA Division II women's basketball national semifinal here Thursday night. Despite the loss, UAA finished the season with a 30-5 mark ? best in school history. Northern Kentucky, now 27-8, advances to Saturday's championship game against South Dakota.

UAA's Maria Nilsson had a chance to send the game into overtime, but her long-range three-pointer with just :03 left was a bit long and the Seawolves story-book season came to an end. In just two seasons Head Coach Tim Moser has engineered an incredible turnaround in Seawolf women's basketball fortunes with a 53-11 mark, two Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout titles, two NCAA Championship appearances and now an NCAA national semifinal appearance.

Thanks in large measure to her perfect 12-for-12 free throw shooting, junior center Rebecca Kielpinski finished with a game-high 16 points to go with six rebounds for UAA. Ruby Williams added 12 points and nine rebounds and Kalhie Quinones 10 points and five rebounds. Dasha Basova came off the bench to add nine points, including two three-pointers. Danyelle Echoles led four Northern Kentucky double-figure scorers with 13 points.

The nationally No. 9-ranked Seawolves shot just 29 percent from the field (16-for-55). Ironically, they connected on a sizzling 91 percent (19-for-21) from the charity stripe. UAA won the rebounding battle, 36-35, and committed just 13 turnovers to 19 for the Norse.

After trailing by as many as nine points, 45-36, with just 6:49 to go, UAA rallied to close to within two, 54-52, at the 1:13 mark on an old fashioned three-point play by Basova ? a layin and the ensuing free throw. NKU's Jessie Slack and UAA's Quinones traded two free throws each to make it 56-54 at :48.

Down by three, 57-54 after a Nicole Chiodi free throw at :20, the Seawolves had two chances to send the game into overtime. Quinones missed on a drive shot with nine seconds left, but the ball went out of bounds to the Seawolves. UAA inbounded the ball underneath their own basket, setting up the final three-pointer by Nilsson.

Another telling statistic was the 28 free throws shot by the Norse as a result of 22 UAA fouls. NKU shot 45 percent from the field, including 5-of-13 from three-point land.

The game was televised nationally on ESPNU and statewide in Alaska via KCFT and GCI cable.