The Misericordia University women's basketball team defeated Manhattanville, 69-53, to advance to the MAC Freedom Championship game and capture its program-best 22nd victory, Thursday at the Anderson Center.
The Cougars will make their first appearance in the MAC Freedom Championship since winning it all in 2012.
Paige Wampole led the way for the Cougars with 16 points and 12 rebounds for her third consecutive double-double and seventh of the season. The junior forward shot 7-11 from the field and controlled the offensive glass with five rebounds.
Tessa Zamolyi stuffed the stat sheet for the Cougars with 13 points, eight rebounds, four assists and four blocked shots while coming off the bench. The sophomore shot 6-12 from the field and led the team in efficiency with a game-high 28 plus/minus.
Kalynn Sefcik was the third Cougar to reach double-figures with 20 points. She shot 4-7 from the field with four assists, three rebounds and two steals.
Rachel Carmody and Japriya Carroll contributed with eight and seven points, respectively. Carmody received MAC Freedom first-team distinction this season while Carroll garnered second-team recognition.
Junior center Jordan Barth also had a strong game for the Cougars with nine points and 11 rebounds off the bench.
After both teams went back-and-forth in the opening five minutes, Misericordia began to gain separation with a 10-0 run to close out the latter half of the opening quarter. Barth helped capture momentum with an and-one layup to give the Cougars a 15-10 lead.
Moments later, Erica Haefele gave the Cougars further separation with a three-pointer, which put her team ahead 18-10 at the end of the opening stanza.
The first quarter saw six lead changes and four ties, but Misericordia would never surrender the lead in the final three quarters.
The Cougars built on their first quarter run with a 6-0 rally to open the second. Manhattanville finally stopped some of the bleeding with a much-needed bucket with 7:11 remaining in the quarter to break a seven minute scoreless drought.
Manhattanville would cut its deficit to single digits with 3:03 remaining until halftime, but Carmody answered with a three-pointer from the top of the key to build Misericordia's advantage to 11 points. It was only the forward's fourth three-pointer of the season and her first since Jan. 26 against FDU-Florham.
The Cougars went into halftime with a 34-21 lead. Misericordia dominated the Valiants in points in the paint (18-2) and bench scoring (19-0) for the opening half.
Manhattanville came out of halftime with some energy, running off a quick 7-0 rally against the Cougars. However, Misericordia gathered itself and put together an 11-0 run to pull ahead 47-30. Carroll and Sefcik each contributed four points during the stretch.
With 43-seconds remaining in the third quarter, Wampole gave the Cougars a 20-point lead with a fast break layup. It was the team's largest advantage of the night.
Misericordia will travel to DeSales University on Saturday in the MAC Freedom Championship. The top-seeded Bulldogs defeated King's College, 71-56, in the team's first round match-up.
