Box Score

IMMACULATA, Pa. – Third-seeded Immaculata University's women's basketball advances to the Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC) Tournament semifinals following a thrilling 77-74 victory against sixth-seeded Rosemont College on Monday night inside Alumnae Hall.
 
Immaculata (18-8) will now travel to second-seeded Neumann University on Wednesday night, February 26, at 7 p.m. for a semifinal game. Top-seeded Cabrini College will host fifth-seeded Gwynedd Mercy University Wednesday night in the other semifinal. The Griffins upset fourth-seeded Marywood University, 83-73, in Monday's other quarterfinal contest.
 
Lindsay Cras poured in a career-high 24 points, mostly on 4 of 6 shooting from three-point range and 8-for-11 at the free throw line, to lead the Mighty Macs to the win. She was one of four Immaculata scorers in double figures.
 
Alison Zimny tallied 16 points and a team-high seven assists. Brittany Merkle finished with a double-double as she had 12 points and 14 rebounds. Merkle also dished out four assists. Adriana Sciascia scored 10 points while having three assists. Sara Smith finished with nine points while Meghan Gallagher came off the bench to produce six points and bring down eight boards.
 
It was a tight game wire-to-wire between Immaculata and Rosemont. Zimny scored the opening bucket for the Mighty Macs 31 seconds into the game, and Immaculata would not score again until the 15:01 mark. During that span, Rosemont scored seven points for the early 7-2 edge.
 
Immaculata then tied the game at 9-all with 11:54 to play before half as Cras scored five points during the 7-2 Mighty Macs run. However, during the next four-plus minutes, Rosemont outscored Immaculata, 13-2, as the Ravens took the only double-digit lead by either team during the contest (22-11) with 7:27 on the clock before halftime.
 
The Mighty Macs held the Ravens scoreless for 2:22 while Immaculata was quickly able to get back in the game with just over five minutes left in the opening frame to make it 22-21. Sciascia had half Immaculata's points in the 10-0 spurt.
 
The visitors maintained a slim advantage until Cras connected on a three with 36 seconds left to bring Immaculata within one, and Zimny hit a buzzer-beater as the horn sounded for halftime that gave Immaculata back the lead, 31-30.
 
Despite Rosemont tying the score twice, Immaculata never handed Rosemont the lead during the second half. Immaculata lead by as many as seven points twice during the final 20 minutes of action.
 
Immaculata scored its first 22 points of the second at either the free throw line or from behind the arc. Zimny and Cras each had two three's as the Mighty Macs sunk four during the first 8:05 of the second half. Cras finished with 11 of those 22 points.
 
The Mighty Macs' first two-point basket of the second half was at the 10:07 mark as Cras put in the layup. But after getting fouled on her way up, Cras converted the foul line for the three-point play, and Immaculata's first seven-point lead (56-49) of the game.
 
Rosemont trimmed Immaculata's lead to just one twice, but the Mighty Macs were able to work their advantage back to seven (68-61) with just over five minutes remaining in the contest. The Ravens got as close as two during the final stretch, but a 3-for-4 performance by the Mighty Macs during the final 20 seconds was enough to seal the win.
 
Rosemont shot 40.6 percent (28-for-69) from the field compared to Immaculata's 34.8 percent (23-for-66). However, the Mighty Macs were able to win the game at the free throw line after going 23-for-29 (.793) compared to the Ravens 12-for-18 (.667).
 
Rosemont, which ends its season 12-13 overall, was led by Liz Coyne's double-double of 19 points and 12 rebounds.