ASTON, Pa.- The No. 5 Immaculata women's basketball team (8-18) went on the road to No. 4 Neumann (14-12) on Monday night for the first-ever Atlantic East Conference Quarterfinals, and the Mighty Macs put together a great team effort, holding off a Neumann second half rally, to advance to the semifinals with a 66-56 victory.  The Mighty Macs will now travel to No. 1 Marymount on Thursday night for the Atlantic East Semifinals.
 
Defensively, the Mighty Macs were excellent, holding Neumann 15 points below their season average by forcing 25 turnovers and allowing the Knights to shoot just 33%.
 
Senior Amber Ballinger put together her most complete game of the season with 19 points on 5-of-10 shooting, including 4-of-6 from three, seven rebounds, and six steals.  Sophomore Brielle Rigo had a huge performance off the bench with 18 points and nine rebounds.

HOW IT HAPPENED
-The Mighty Macs had a pair of and-one plays from sophomore Natalie Ayoub and a three-pointer by Ballinger to stake them to a 10-6 lead through the first six-plus minutes of the first quarter
-Neumann took an 11-10 lead with five straight, but the Macs responded with a three by Rigo and a layup from sophomore Theresa Kearney to take a 15-11 lead to the second quarter
-The Mighty Macs were outstanding to start the second quarter as they went on a 14-5 run to open the period.  Rigo scored six points while Ballinger covered the other eight, including back-to-back three pointers and IU led 29-16 at the midway point of the quarter
-IU scored just three points the rest of the quarter, but they would take a 32-24 lead into the second half
-Neumann was red-hot coming out of the locker room as they scored 13 unanswered points to take a 37-32 lead with 5:46 to go in the third
-Kearney and Rigo scored back-to-back buckets and a Ballinger free throw tied the game at 37-37 with 3:22 left in the third
-Trailing 38-37, the Macs got back-to-back layups by freshman Meghan Ricker and Kearney punctuated a 7-0 spurt with a three pointer to give IU a lead they would never relinquish.  They led 44-41 going to the fourth quarter
-Rigo scored the first three of the quarter to push the lead back to six, and after a pair of free throws by junior Annie Kohutka, the Macs led by five at the midway point of the fourth
-Neumann got within three with 3:39 to go, but a Ballinger three pointer and free throw by Kohutka pushed the advantage back to seven with less than three minutes left
-The Mighty Macs did the rest of their heavy lifting at the free throw line to send them to the Atlantic East Semifinals
 
TEAM COMPARISON
-IU was 21-for-52 (40.4%) from the field and 6-for-16 (37.5%) from three-point range, while they got to the line 25 times and hit 18 (72%) of them
-Neumann was 17-for-51 (33.3%) from the field, 4-for-18 (22.2%) from three, and 18-for-23 (78.3%) from the free throw line
-Neumann held a slight advantage in rebounds, 37-34, but the Macs were stout defensively and forced 25 Knight turnovers
 
IU LEADERS
-Points: Ballinger 19, Rigo 18, Kearney 7
-Rebounds: Rigo 9, Ballinger 7
-Assists: Ricker 4, Kohutka 4
-Steals: Ballinger 6, Kelly 2, Gallagher 2
 
WHAT THEY SAID
-Head Coach Chrissy Esbensen said: "I'm incredibly proud of this team for being resilient in the second half when Neumann went on their run.  We learned from our mistakes earlier this season in a similar situation and showed how far we have come as a team.  It was a hard-fought, tough playoff win, which was exactly what we expected."
 
UP NEXT
The Atlantic East Semifinals will take place at No. 1 Marymount on Thursday at 7 p.m.