Arlington, Va. – Marymount University's women's basketball team defeated visiting Lynchburg 74-60 in the opening round of the 2011 Marymount Tip-Off Tournament on Friday night.  Earning their first win of the young season, the Saints advance to the championship game on Saturday night against Manhattanville.

Katelyn Fischer dominated the game on all ends of the floor, leading all scorers with 29 points, all rebounders with 11 for a double-double and nearly notched a triple-double with a game-high seven assists.  Julie Tomesheski almost joined her, falling two points shy of a double-double with eight points and 10 boards, while Sam Spencer added 17 points and Zoe Saulsgiver had eight in the win.

Trading leads of the first five minutes of the game, the Saints (1-1) took control for good at the 14:38 mark on a Fischer layup.  Marymount would push its lead to as many as 12 in the opening half and 17 in the game.

Five Saints shot better than 50 percent on the night as the team hit 48.1% of its attempts from the floor.  More impressive, MU was hot from beyond the arc with a sizzling 57.1% clip.

Despite the heavy production from guards Fischer and Spencer, the Saints still won the battle of the trenches down low.  Marymount scored 28 points in the paint and outrebounded the Hornets 42-35.  Forwards Tynisha Parks and Sam Kane both pulled down seven boards each and combined for 10 points.

Marymount advances to face Manhattanville in the championship game on Saturday at 6 p.m.  The Valiants topped Gettysburg 61-54 in the tournament opener.  Fans can follow the action live by logging on to http://muweb.marymount.edu/~jmessman/basketball/xlive.htm for live stats and www.ustream.tv/channel/marymount-basketball for live video streaming.