PURCHASE, NY (www.OLDWESTBURYPANTHERS.com) - The third-seeded SUNY College at Old Westbury women's basketball team was eliminated from the Skyline Conference Championship Tournament Thursday evening with a 57-52 road loss to the No. 2 seeded Purchase Panthers in the semifinal round.  The loss makes Old Westbury 16-10 on the season and will now wait on a possible ECAC Championship Tournament bid on selection Monday.  Purchase moves onto host No. 4 Farmingdale State on Championship Saturday with a 17-9 record.

Old Westbury broke the scoring ice as Raven Pentz dropped in a layup just 13 seconds in to score the games first points.  Old Westbury never trailed during the opening 5:45 until Talia Beaulieu's layup gave Purchase the lead for good, taking a 10-8 advantage.  Purchase's lead blossomed to eight points on eight unanswered points, making it a 16-8 game.  Abigail Williams sank a pair of free-throws with 7:28 remaining to slice the deficit to one point, 24-23.  Purchase answered with six more unanswered points and closed out the final 7:13 with a 14-7 run to hold a 38-30 halftime lead. 

Jumpers by Beaulieu and Lineker St. Hilaire to open the half gave Purchase a 10 point lead with 16:51 remaining in regulation.  Old Westbury closed the gap to two points with an 8-0 run from 15:41 to 11:38.  Purchase and Old Westbury both traded 6-0 runs with Old Westbury slicing the deficit to two points with 5:34 left.  Nikki Alexander dropped in a layup for Old Westbury with 3:28 showing on the clock to make it a 52-50 game in favor of Purchase.  Over the final three minutes, Purchase held a 5-2 scoring advantage as Old Westbury shot just 1-of-5 from the field.   

DeAndra Scott paced Old Westbury with her 15th double-double of the season, finishing with 15 points (5-9 FG), 12 rebounds, five assists, two blocks and two steals in 36 minutes of action.  Raven Pentz added 10 points, five rebounds and two steals while Nikki Alexander followed with a career-high nine points off the bench.  Raven Price chipped in with three blocks and two steals. 

Lineker St. Hilaire posted a 14 point, 11 rebound double-double to go along with four steals to lead Purchase.  Elizabeth Osowiecki added 12 points and Talia Beaulieu scored 11 and pulled down seven rebounds.  Alexis Billups dished out five assists and nabbed three steals. 

Old Westbury shot 36.4 percent from the field (20-55), 25 percent from three-point territory (2-8) and 71.4 percent from the free-throw line (10-14).  Purchase hit just 29.5 percent from the field (23-79) and 12.5 percent from beyond the arc (1-8) despite connecting on 90.9 percent from the charity stripe (10-11).  Purchase held a slim 37-35 rebounding edge, scoring 16 second chance points off 20 offensive rebounds.  Old Westbury's 25 turnovers were converted into 17 Purchase points. 

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