The St. Lawrence women's basketball team defeated Vassar 80-63 on Saturday afternoon in the semi-final matchup to advance to the championship game where they will face tournament host and 1-seed Ithaca College.

Ava McCann had the first five points of the game, and Olivia Barringer put the Saints up 7-0 after just over a minute of game time. McCann hit three first quarter 3-pointers, and scored 13 in the quarter and the Saints led 22-19 after the first ten minutes.

Dylan Watkiss hit a layup and two 3-points to go on an eight-point run by herself to extend the Saints lead to double digits for the first time with 15 seconds left in the half, but another Brewer 3-pointer sent the Saints into halftime up 43-36.

The Brewers were not able to get any runs going, and St. Lawrence held firm with the lead between seven and 11 points in the third quarter, and went into the final ten minutes up 60-50.

Olivia Middleton scored the first five points of the final quarter, and a Katie Frederick layup capped off the seven point run. The Saints led by as many as 19 in the final few minutes, and held on to win 80-63. The Saints never trailed.

"The key to that game was Ava getting red hot in the beginning" said head coach Dan Roiger, "because it forced them to switch on screens, which allowed us to get inside looks in the second half when we switched to a new offence. We defended them really well. They are a tough offensive team that presents matchup challenges, and they beat us at times, but they couldn't beat us consistently, especially in the second half."

All five starters ended in double figures. Middleton led all scorers with 17 points and had five assists. McCann finished with 16 points and tthree steals, and Watkiss had 12 points. Both Barringer and Frederick had double-doubles, Barringer had 14 points and 11 rebounds, while Frederick had 13 points and 20 rebounds.

The Saints controlled the boards, coming down with 52 to Vassar's 31.

The Saints shot 46.9-percent from the floor, and 30.8-percent from deep. The St. Lawrence defense held the Brewers to 35.3-percent from the floor and just 21.2-percent from deep off of 33 attempts.

Records: (St. Lawrence 22-4, 14-4), Vassar (17-8, 16-2)
Up next: Ithaca College in the Liberty League Championship game at 2 p.m. in Ithaca, N.Y.