RADNOR, PA - The Cabrini women's basketball team secured a trip to the Atlantic East Conference semifinals thanks to a convincing 67-36 victory over Marywood University.
Sophomore
Abby Paolini led all scorers with 12 points, while also adding four rebounds to pace a well rounded Cavalier offense. Three other Cavaliers finished in double figures as Mirandia Liebtag,
Ashley Tutzauer, and
Katie Rodriguez all finished with 10. Liebtag and Rodriguez each recorded a double double with 10 and 11 boards, respectively.
Hannah Fenstermacher also chipped in eight points.
The Blue and White opened the game on a 12-1 run, highlighted by a Rodriguez layup and one. Aside from a single free throw, the Cavs defense held the Pacers offense off the board until Abbey McGee's layup inside the paint at the 2:52 mark ended the run. Cabrini scored five of the next seven to regain the double digit advantage and ended the quarter leading 17-5.
After a pair of free throw attempts to begin the quarter the Cavs went on a 10-0 run over a four minute stretch, paced by back-to-back treys from Tutzauer and Liebtag, to pull ahead 27-6. The Blue and White doubled up the visitors 14-7 over the remainder of the second to go into the break up by 30, 41-11.
The Cavs scored 14 points off nine Marywood turnovers in the first half and limited the Pacers to just 16.7-percent from the field. Cabrini also held a commanding 30-16 advantage in rebounds in the first half.
Coming out of the break a Rodriguez free throw and Gerdes layup increased the lead to 33, but Marywood responded with a 17-5 run over the next five minutes of play to cut the lead to 49-28, but that would be as close as it would get for the visitors.
The Cavs outscored the Pacers 18-8 over the remainder of the game, including a seven minute stretch in the fourth in which the Cavs made four-of-eight from beyond of the arc, for the aforementioned 67-36 victory.
Over the course of the game, the Cavalier limited the visitors to 23.3-percent from the field, including just 2-15 from three point range. The Blue and White also held a 55-41 advantage in rebounds and 17-14 edge in turnovers.
Marywood offense was led by Olivia Ciullo's team high 10 points and seven boards.
With the victory, the Cavaliers improved to 14-12 overall and 8-4 in the AEC. The Cavs will travel to Immaculata, PA for the AEC semifinal game this Wednesday, Febraury 23
rd, where they'll face the No. 2 seeded Immaculata University Mighty Macs. The Mighty Macs defeated Centenary Universitiy 62-43 in the AEC quarterfinal. Game time is slated for 7PM.