ROCHESTER, NY – Freshman Katie MacLachlan drilled a critical 3-pointer with 1:15 remaining to give Nazareth a 5-point lead and the second-seeded Golden Flyers held on for a 75-71 victory over No. 3 Sage on Friday night in the Empire 8 semifinals, hosted at St. John Fisher. With the win, Nazareth advances to the championship game on Saturday at 3 p.m., taking on the top-seeded St. John Fisher Carindals. The Cardinals defeated Elmira 67-41 in the other semifinal contest.
 
With the win, Nazareth is now 19-7 overall, while Sage drops to 16-10. The 19 wins for the season are the most since 1999-2000, when the Golden Flyers went 19-9.
 
Jadyn Abrams led the way with 18 points, including going 10-for-14 from the free throw line, several of those coming down the stretch. Freshman Kiara Anglin had a career-high 17 points on an efficient 7-for-10 from the floor.
 
Graduate student Caley Cornwell drilled a triple at the 6:03 mark of the fourth, making it 64-53 in favor of the Flyers. That was Nazareth's largest lead of the game.
 
The Gators, however, were able to pry into the lead, eventually pulling ahead 65-64 on a 3-pointer with 2:22 to play.
 
Abrams made a layup on the ensuing possession to give the Golden Flyers the lead for good. That was followed up by a MacLachlan steal and two made free throws for a 68-65 margin.
 
Following 1-of-2 free throws on the other end, MacLachlan buried the ever-important 3-poitner which proved to be the turning point at 71-66 with 1:15 on the clock. The Gators would come no closer than four points down the stretch. MacLachlan ended with 15 points on 5-for-9 from the floor, to go along with five rebounds.
 
The Golden Flyers had a great opening quarter, going 10-for-17 (59 percent) and leading by as many as 10 points at 20-10, with just over 1:30 to play. The Gators were able to close the gap to 23-17 heading to the second.
 
Sage clawed to within 35-34 with under two minutes left in the half. Nazareth was 70 percent (7-for-10) in the second but that only amounted to a 42-39 halftime lead.
 
The Gators took their first lead since 8:40 in the first half, when Guiliana Pritchard buried a pair of free throws with just under four minutes left in the third to make it 48-47. Nazareth scored the last seven points of the quarter.
 
Anglin had a huge second chance putback to open the fourth, making it 56-48.
 
Later in the fourth, Reidinger put in a layup to make it 60-50 at the seven minute mark. She finished with 10 points, nine rebounds and five assists.
 
The championship matchup between Nazareth and Fisher will be the third-straight season the squads have met in the finals. Fisher won last year, while the Golden Flyers won the year prior.  In the season series, Fisher took both contests.