ARLINGTON, VA – The top seeded Marymount University Saints used a 22-6 fourth quarter to stymie the upset minded York College Spartans 61-52 in the Capital Athletic Conference semifinals on Thursday night in Arlington, Virginia.
The Saints improve to 22-4 as they advance to face third-seed Mary Washington in Saturday's conference championship game. The Spartans, who were seeded fourth in the tournament, close out their campaign with a solid mark of 20-7. There were four teams in the CAC who had 20 or more wins for the season for the first time in league history. Previously, the CAC had three 20-plus win teams in 2012-13 and in 2008-09.
The Spartans trailed early as the Saints took a 17-7 lead after the first quarter. The Green and White started gaining momentum in the second quarter. The Spartans trailed by as many as 12 before York went on a 13-2 run to trim their halftime deficit to 23-22.
York came out of the break and played one of their best quarters of the year. The Spartans ripped off a 15-4 run to push out to a 39-29 lead with 4:24 left in the quarter. The run was fueled by three pointers from Morgan Golec (Abingdon, Md./Patterson Mill), Sam Hruz (White Marsh, Md./Mercy), and Beth Wiseley (Macungie, Pa./Emmaus).
The Spartans pushed the lead to a game-high 11 points on a Katie Wagner (Glen Rock, Pa./Susquehannock) triple with 3:45 left in the third. The Saints would steady themselves and trim the Spartan lead to 46-39 heading into the fourth quarter.
The Green and White went cold once the final quarter started and the Saints took advantage. The Spartans got outscored 14-2 in the opening 7:45 of the second half as the Saints turned their seven-point deficit into a 53-48 lead with 2:15 left in regulation.
Wagner, the hero in Tuesday's first round win over Salisbury, hit a lay up to cut York's deficit to three but that would be as close as York would get the rest of the way. The Saints would get a two open lay ups and hit four free throws over the last 1:45 to provide for the final nine-point margin of victory.
Nicole Viscuso led all scorers as she tallied 16 points including 14 points in the second half. Viscuso was 6-for-9 from the field in the second half after York forced her into a 1-for-8 performance from the field in the opening 20 minutes of play. Viscuso added four rebounds, all offensive, in her 30 minutes of play. Miranda Krott was huge on the glass as she recorded a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Krott had eight offensive rebounds for the Saints. She was 5-for-6 from the floor and 4-for-5 from the line in the win. Leah Hurst was the third Saint in double figures for the Saints as she added 13 points, six assists, four rebounds and four steals for MU. She was 5-for-11 from the floor including 2-for-5 from three and 1-for-4 from the line.
The Spartans were led by Morgan Kuehne (Red Lion, Pa./Red Lion) as she tallied 12 points and four rebounds in her 29 minutes of action. Kuehne was 4-for-8 from the floor including 1-of-2 from three and 3-for-3 from the line. Hruz was the other Spartan in double figures with 11 points, eight rebounds, three blocks and three assists in 36 minutes. Wagner added nine points, two rebounds and an assist for York.
The Saints finished the game shooting 40.7% for the game but Marymount converted 48.3% in the second half after shooting 33.3% in the first half. The Saints converted 4-of-13 (30.8%) from three and went 9-for-15 (60%) from the stripe.
The Spartans shot 42.2% from the field while they went 7-for-21 (33.3%) from distance. York was a perfect 7-for-7 from the line.
The Saints held a 35-28 margin in total rebounding but the big number came on Marymount's offensive end of the floor as the Saints picked off 17 offensive caroms. That would lead to 18 second chance points as Marymount scored 36 points in the paint.
Hruz's three blocked shots brings her to a career total of 179 as she is now just five blocks short of former Spartan great Kristen Haley's school record total of 184. Hruz finished the season with 87 blocks, six short of tying Brooke Davis' single-season mark of 93.
The loss closes out the fine careers of seniors Julianne Lambert (Hockessin, Del./Padua Academy) and Alia Smith (Brinklow, Md./Sherwood). The duo was a part of 78 wins during their Spartan careers.
Head coach Betsy Witman enters 2016-17 returning her top seven scorers including her entire starting five.