NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Caitlyn Scott (White Plains, N.Y.) scored a game-high 31 points as the Albertus Magnus College women's basketball team advanced to the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) semifinals after defeating the New England College Pilgrims, 86-67 on Tuesday evening in The Nest.

Scott was one of four players in double figures for the No. 3 seeded Falcons as Diamond White (Hamden, Conn.) scored 20, Amanda Zdru (Stratford, Conn.) scored 13 and Jakara Murray-Leach (Norwalk, Conn.) scored 11.  Natasha Rivera (Ansonia, Conn.) had a team-high seven rebounds, to go with three assists, three steals and four points. 

It was the second time the team's met in the last three days, as Albertus defeated the sixth-seeded Pilgrims in the regular season finale on February 17.

THE BASICS

FINAL: Albertus Magnus 86 | New England College 67

RECORDS: Albertus Magnus (20-6) | New England College (13-13)

BOX

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Falcons scored the first five points of the game, including a three from Scott at the 9:02 mark. The teams tied four more times until the Pilgrims took their first lead at 13-11 with 1:53 left in the first. 
• NEC would take a 17-14 lead with 18 seconds left, but Scott hit an off-balance three-pointer at the buzzer to tie the game at 17-17 after the first.
• Scott scored the first six points for the Falcons in the second quarter, staking the Falcons to a 23-17 lead, but NEC scored the next seven to go up by one. From there, it was all Albertus, as the Falcons outscored the Pilgrims, 21-5 the rest of the way to take a 44-29 lead at the half. Scott scored 11 of her points in the quarter, while White scored nine, going a perfect 2-for-2 from the field and 5-for-5 from the free-throw line.
• Scott once again got off to a hot start in the third, scoring the first nine points for Albertus as it took a 51-33 lead with 7:50 remaining. Zdru and White each scored six points in the quarter and the Falcons shot 8-for-12 (66.7%) from the field.
• A jump shot from Elizabeth Bruno (Providence, R.I.) to start the fourth quarter gave the Falcons its biggest lead of the game at 71-45 just 40 seconds into the final frame. The Pilgrims trimmed the Albertus lead to 73-58 but back-to-back threes from Zdru and White sealed the game.

TEAM STATS

Albertus 50.0 FG% | 30.4 3PT% | 75.8 FT%

New England College 39.7 FG% | 15.8 3PT% | 50.0 FT%

INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES

Albertus

• Caitlyn Scott 31 Points | 10-17 FG | 4-7 3PT 
• Diamond White 20 Points | 7-11 FG | 3 Steals
• Amanda Zdru 13 Points | 4-7 FG
• Jakara Murray-Leach 11 Points | 5 Rebounds

New England College

• Kathleen Rodriguez 20 Points | 11 Rebounds | 8-12 FG
• Macy Gordon 14 Points | 3-7 3PT | 
• Juliana Hernandez 10 Points | 9 Rebounds

NOTEWORTHY

• Scott moved up to sixth-place in program history in points and now has 1,467 points in her career. 
• Murray-Leach moved up to eighth all-time scoring in program history in points and now has 1,369 in her career.
• White now has 984 points in her career.
• Albertus now leads the all-time series, 4-3 against NEC and have won the last three meetings.
• This is the third straight season the Falcons have made the GNAC semifinals.
• Albertus secured its second straight 20-win season.

UP NEXT

The third-seeded Falcons will head up Interstate 91 to take on the No. 2 seed University of Saint Joseph (Conn.) on Thursday at 5 p.m. in the GNAC Semifinals.