SANTA CRUZ, Calif. – The third-seeded Salisbury University women's basketball took care of business in the opening round of the Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference (C2C) Tournament, pummeling the Pratt Institute Cannoneers, 79-47, on Thursday evening at West Field House on the campus of the University of California, Santa Cruz.

The Sea Gulls will now face the tournament hosts and second-seeded UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs in the C2C semifinals on Friday afternoon. Tipoff of the second semifinal matchup from Kaiser Permanente Arena is slated for 5 p.m. EDT (2 p.m. PDT).

BOX SCORE

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Katy O'Connor hit her first layup to give the Cannoneers their only lead of the game. Kaylee Otlowski answered with a jump shot, then Lauren Fortescue hit back-to-back field goals to propel the Sea Gulls on a 13-0 run. Fortescue capped the surge with a layup that made it 13-2 at the 4:16 mark of the first quarter.
• Pratt strung together consecutive layups from Sophie Bischoff and O'Connor, but Hailey Ader got those four points back herself on a layup and two free throws, and Salisbury took a 17-6 lead out of the opening quarter.
• Abby Wilkinson's free throws and Kylie Webb's three-pointer boosted the Sea Gull advantage to 22-6 in the first minute of the second quarter. The Cannoneers then went on a 6-0 run to cut it to 22-12, but Salisbury responded with a 7-2 flourish, capped by a Fortescue trey at the 5:11 mark that made it 29-14.
• Pratt got as close as 31-20 with 1:53 until halftime, but Ashlynn Burrows converted two baskets as part of a 6-2 push to close the period, and the Sea Gulls carried a 37-22 advantage into the break.
• Salisbury reasserted its authority in a monster 28-point third quarter. Emily Dilger hit two of the first three buckets, and Webb and Fortescue knocked down consecutive triples that made it a 13-0 run and 50-22 lead at the 7:03 mark.
• The Cannoneers kept the deficit in the mid-20s for much of the third, trailing 61-35 with 1:13 to go. Burrows and Kolby Brown got the Sea Gulls' lead over the 30-point threshold with jumpers, but a pair of Kylie Grant free throws cut it to 65-37 by the end of the third.
• The Sea Gull bench saw ample action in the fourth quarter. Sym Deloatch's layup pushed the lead back to 30, then Alex Bull hit a jumper that made it 69-37 at the 8:25 mark.
• Up 71-45 with 1:38 to go, Salisbury used one last push to ensure themselves of a 30-point margin. Deloatch, Bull, Caitlin Reed and Madison Cuthbert scored during the game-ending 8-2 run, with Cuthbert's layup giving the game its final 79-47 margin.

SALISBURY GAME NOTES

• Lauren Fortescue led the Sea Gulls with 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting. She also racked up four steals, plus three rebounds and three assists.
• Hailey Ader came off the bench for 10 points (3-of-6) and went a perfect 4-of-4 from the free throw line.
• Kaylee Otlowski, Kylie Webb and Jada Welbon each went for eight points.
• Emily Dilger put up Swiss Army knife numbers, scoring four points with seven rebounds, five assists, two steals and two blocks.
• All 15 players on Salisbury's roster saw action in the game, with 14 players contributing on the scoreboard.
• Eleven Sea Gulls played at least 10 minutes, with only Fortescue (24) and Webb (20) spending more than 20 minutes on the court.
• Salisbury shot 41.3 percent (31-of-75) for the game and went 12-of-15 (80 percent) from the charity stripe. SU assisted on 18 of its 31 made field goals.
• The Sea Gulls outrebounded Pratt 43-32 and doubled the Cannoneers up on the offensive glass, 23-11.
• Salisbury forced a whopping 32 Cannoneer turnovers while giving up just 16. SU's 21 steals came one shy of its season high.
• The Sea Gulls have won 20 games in a season for the seventh time in program history. Salisbury previously crossed the 20-win threshold in 1987-88 (20-6), 1994-95 (21-7), 2000-01 (24-4), 2001-02 (24-5), 2003-03 (23-5) and 2014-15 (28-3).

PRATT GAME NOTES

• Katy O'Conner proved difficult to stop inside for the Cannoneers, as the C2C's leading scorer and rebounder went for 26 points (8-of-13) and 14 boards, plus four steals.
• Kylie Grant netted 15 points (5-of-17) off the bench. O'Conner and Grant combined for all but six of Pratt's 47 points for the game.
• The Cannoneers shot 34.8 percent (16-of-46) and went an impressive 15-of-16 (93.8 percent) from the free throw line.
• Pratt lost its three games against C2C competition this season by an average margin of 40.7 points. The Cannoneers bowed to Mary Washington 62-32 on Feb. 12 and Christopher Newport 90-30 on Feb. 13.

UP NEXT

• The third-seeded Sea Gulls will tip off against second-seeded UC Santa Cruz at 5 p.m. EDT (2 p.m. PDT) on Friday afternoon. The Banana Slugs earned a first-round bye as one of the tournament's top two seeds.
• The winner of the Salisbury-UCSC matchup will face either Christopher Newport or Mary Washington in the C2C Tournament championship on Saturday. Fourth-seeded UMW outlasted fifth-seeded Finlandia 66-53 on Thursday night and will face top-seeded CNU at 3 p.m. EDT (12 p.m. PDT) on Friday.
• A win over the Banana Slugs would send Salisbury to its first conference championship game since 2014-15 when the Sea Gulls beat Mary Washington 74-68 in double overtime to capture the Capital Athletic Conference (CAC, now C2C) title.

Salisbury University is a proud member of NCAA Division III with primary membership in the Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference, along with the New Jersey Athletic Conference for football and the Metropolitan Swimming and Diving Conference for men's and women's swimming. With over 500 student-athletes in 21 varsity sports, SU is recognized as one of the most competitive intercollegiate athletics programs regardless of division, and dedicated coaches and staff that foster excellence on-and-off the field. The Sea Gulls have celebrated 22 team national championships, 24 individual national champions, 186 conference championships and 41 Academic All-Americans.

To learn more about the tradition of excellence with Sea Gull Athletics, visit www.SUSeaGulls.com or on social media @SUSeaGulls.