Third-Seeded Salisbury And Fourth-Seeded Marymount Capture First-Round CAC Women's Basketball Playoff Victories
A long-time playoff rivalry will be renewed Thursday as both Marymount and Salisbury picked up CAC Women's Basketball Playoff first-round wins.
The third-seeded Sea Gulls (15-10) eliminated sixth-seeded Stevenson (10-16) by a 62-56 margin to advance to Thursday's semifinal round at second-seeded York (21-4), beginning at 7 p.m.
Fourth-seeded Marymount's 72-47 decision over fifth-seeded St. Mary's (10-16) sets up a classic semifinal clash pitting the Saints (14-12) at top seeded, undefeated and 7th-ranked Mary Washington (25-0) in the opening game of a semifinal women's/men's DH at Fredericksburg, Va., beginning at 6 p.m.
The winners of Thursday's semifinal contests will play Saturday for the 2012 CAC championship and an automatic bid to the 2012 NCAA Championship Tournament.
At Marymount, the Saints advanced to the semifinals of the 2012 Capital Athletic Conference Championships with a 72-47 victory over visiting fifth-seed St. Mary’s. The Saints earned their 13th-straight semifinals appearance and 20th overall, both league records.
Reigning CAC Player of the Week Katelyn Fischer led the Saints (14-12) with her seventh double-double of the season, scoring a game-high 23 points to go with a contest-best 11 assists. She added six rebounds and a pair of steals while shooting a stellar 7-of-9 from the floor and 8-for-9 at the free throw line.
Seniors Jackie Bohenek and Sam Spencer chipped in 17 and 14 points, respectively. Spencer went 5-for-7 from the floor, including 4-for-5 from downtown, while Bohenek shot 70 percent from the field.
Five Saints grabbed at least six boards en route to outrebounding St. Mary’s 47-27 on the night. Tynisha Parks led Marymount with seven rebounds while Bohenek, Fischer, Dominique Dickens and Julie Tomesheski each hauled in six.
Bridget Wilkins and Marche Pearson both led the Seahawks with seven points off the bench. Aura Payne led all players with four steals.
At Salisbury, the third-seeded Sea Gulls held off a late charge from sixth-seeded Stevenson to claim a 62-56 victory. With the win, SU (15-10) advances to face second-seeded York (Pa.) College on Thursday at 7 p.m., in the semifinals on the road at Charles Wolf Gym.
Trailing for most of the second half, Stevenson (10-16) got to within one at 50-49 on a Kyarra Harmon jumper with 6:20 to play but the Sea Gulls pulled away to earn their first CAC tournament win since the 2007-08 season.
Junior Katie McGahagan followed Harmon's bucket with four consecutive points to push the lead to 54-50 with 4:33 left and senior KC Curran drained a three-pointer with just 1:48 remaining to put the game away.
The Sea Gulls converted 5-of-6 free throws for down the stretch for the final margin.
Freshman Anna Hackett led SU with 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting and junior Nicole Sisco recorded her eighth career double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds. Hackett also had a game-high six assists to go with three steals.
Tied, 8-8, five-and-a-half minutes in, Salisbury scored five straight points to take a 13-8 advantage at the 11:17 mark. Sisco started the run with a layup followed by a Curran jumper and Hackett free throw for the largest lead of the half by either team.
Stevenson's Sam Murray made a free throw of her own and a three-pointer to cut the Sea Gulls' lead to 13-12 midway through the half.
Harmon knocked down a jump shot with 7:53 left for the lead but senior Meghan Dunn responded with a jumper off of an offensive rebound to regain the lead for SU, 17-16.
Murray later hit a three for the Mustangs' final lead of the half at 19-17 with 6:48 before the break. From there, Salisbury scored 10 of the last 16 points, keyed by a Ruiz three-pointer, starting the stretch, to take a 27-25 advantage into the locker room.
Murray led a group of three Mustangs in double figures with 13 points.