Maria Allocco made a jumper at the 3:41 mark of the second half to put the Golden Flyers (2-4) in front 51-50. She recorded 11 points and a team-high eight rebounds.

Over the next minute and a half, both teams had looks at the basket, only to come away empty. With 2:10 remaining, first-year Melanie Patterson (7 pts) converted a steal into a fast break layup to swing the 1-point lead in William Smith's favor. Another steal, this one by senior guard Jacqueline Murphy (6 pts, 8 rebs, 3 assts, 2 stls, 1 block), led to a 3-pointer by senior guard Sasha Borenstein and a 55-51 lead with 1:34 to go.

Nazareth got its only bucket of the final three minutes on a layup by Lindsey Kelly with 70 seconds left. Borenstein answered the threat with a jumper at the other end of the floor, restoring the 4-point Heron lead. She finished with 13 points, including three 3-pointers.

The Golden Flyers misfired on a jumper on its ensuing possession and from there William Smith went 5-of-6 at the free throw line to close out the victory.

But for the first two minutes of the game, the Herons (2-2) held the lead throughout the first half, building their advantage to as many as 14. O'Brien's traditional 3-point play at 17:58 tied the contest at 3 and ignited a 20-3 run that put William Smith in front 20-6, six and a half minutes in. O'Brien scored the first seven points of the surge and had nine all told in the run. Her 3-pointer with 2:10 left proved to be the final points of the half and sent the Herons into the break with a 28-23 lead.

William Smith shot 35.5 percent from the floor in the opening 20 minutes while holding Nazareth to just 24.2 percent. The Heron lead could have been more, but the team struggled at the free throw line, making just 3-of-9.

The Golden Flyers reclaimed the lead with a 10-0 run to start the second half. Julia Brew alone scored the first eight points, dropping in a pair of triples, on her way to a team-high 17 points. Nazareth led by as many as six before William Smith rallied for the win.

The Herons committed just four second-half turnovers and enjoyed a 7-2 advantage in points off turnovers in the closing 20 minutes (11-7 for the game). For the game, William Smith outscored Nazareth 22-16 in the paint and held a 46-41 rebounding edge.

The Herons will play the winner of the Brockport-RIT game in the Wendy's fifth place game at Brockport at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 7.