Syracuse, N.Y. – The Le Moyne College women's basketball team prevailed in a nail-biter on Ted Grant Court, earning a 64-60 victory over the Saint Anselm College Hawks on Monday night in the quarterfinals of the Northeast-10 Conference Championships. The top-seeded Dolphins will have home court advantage for the conference tournament semifinals, where they will meet Bentley University on Thursday, with tip-off scheduled for 5:30 p.m. EST. The Falcons took down Franklin Pierce in their quarterfinal matchup by a score of 63-52.

"I lean heavily on our seniors. That's the best part about our team, we're really senior driven, even with (Saeeda Abdul-Aziz) coming in, she's got a lot of game experience and understands the moment, even when she had a wide open three, she understood we need to move the ball around at the end of the game. So, just understanding the moment and the value of the basketball [helped us in key moments], and I think we rebounded really, really well down the stretch," said Le Moyne Head Coach Mary Grimes after the game.

Redshirt junior guard Saeeda Abdul-Aziz (Schenectady, N.Y./Mohonasen/Davidson) delivered a spectacular offensive performance for the 'Phins, making six three-point field goals on 11 attempts, finishing the postseason battle with a season-high 25 points to go along with five rebounds, three assists and a steal in over 37 minutes played.

Senior point guard Erin Fouracre (Loudonville, N.Y./Colonie Central) played over 36 minutes on Monday night, and contributed 10 points, a game-high four steals, three rebounds and three assists for the 'Phins.

Junior guard Lytoya Baker (Rochester, N.Y./Bishop Kearney) provided eight points, eight rebounds and two assists in over 35 minutes of action during the conference tournament victory.

Senior forward Emma Brinker (East Aurora, N.Y./East Aurora) scored 11 points and grabbed five rebounds in the win. During the 25 minutes and 46 seconds that Brinker was on the floor, the Dolphins outscored the Hawks by 15 points.

Four Saint Anselm players scored in double figures on Monday night. First year forward Melanie Hoyt scored 11 points on 5-7 from the field and grabbed seven rebounds during the loss. Junior guard McKenzy Ouellette shot 5-6 from the field and 3-4 from beyond the arc and finished with 15 points. Senior guard Peyton Steinman dealt with foul trouble throughout the postseason battle and finished the game with 12 points and three steals in just under 28 minutes played. Sophomore guard Gabby Turco played all 40 minutes for the Hawks, during which she tallied 13 points and six assists.

With 5:56 left in the first quarter, Abdul-Aziz knocked down a triple, then Brinker finished a layup in the paint during the next possession to put the Dolphins up 11-8.

At the 4:27 mark, Abdul-Aziz got the ball at the free throw line, faced up her defender, made a jab step and knocked down a 10-footer off the front rim to make it 13-8.

Steinman made back-to-back three-point field goals, which would end up being her only long distance makes during the contest, to put the Hawks up 14-13.

With 1:41 remaining in the first period, junior guard Lexi Gruss (Binghamton, N.Y./Binghamton) was pressuring the Hawks ball handlers about 90 feet away from her own basket. Gruss came away with a steal in the Hawks backcourt and finished a fast break layup to put the 'Phins back on top, 15-14.

Fouracre made a nice move to the basket with 7:05 remaining in the second quarter, spinning around her defender towards the middle of the paint where she put up a left-handed shot towards the rim. The ball bounced off the rim to the left, but Baker read the shot perfectly, soared for the offensive rebound, and converted the put back over a Saint Anselm defender to give Le Moyne a 19-17 advantage.

At the 4:29 mark, Baker drove the ball to the middle of the floor and kicked it out to Abdul-Aziz on the right wing for a three-pointer. Then with 3:22 remaining in the first half, Fouracre got the ball on the right wing, drove towards the baseline, got all the way to the basket, finished the layup through contact, drew a foul, and converted the additional free throw to put the 'Phins up 27-24.

During the final possession of the second quarter, with less than 10 seconds left, Fouracre got the ball at the left elbow with a defender closely guarding her. Fouracre ripped the ball through, got a step by her defender and drove towards the right block. Brinker's defender came over to help, and Fouracre slipped a bounce pass between the two Saint Anselm players to Brinker on the left block for an easy layup, giving the Dolphins a 34-28 lead at halftime. Abdul-Aziz had 15 points for Le Moyne after the first 20 minutes.

Jenna Zimmerman (Adams, N.Y./South Jefferson) kicked the ball to Abdul-Aziz for a three-pointer less than one minutes into the third quarter.

With just over a minute remaining in the third period, Brinker collected a missed Abdul-Aziz three-point attempt near the basket and converted the put back to give Le Moyne a 47-37 advantage going into the final period.

Gruss hit a pullup jump shot at the right elbow with 9:00 left in the game to put the 'Phins up 51-38.

Ouellette made a fast break layup at the 6:41 mark to cut the Hawks' deficit to 51-45.

With 6:10 left in the contest, Baker made a nice move to the basket and converted a runner in the lane to make it 53-45 in favor of the Dolphins, then she grabbed a defensive rebound at the other end.

Less than a minute later, Brinker made a strong move on the right block, but could not convert the layup. The ball bounced off the rim towards the middle of the paint, where Zimmerman did well to tap the contested 50/50 rebound out towards the top of the key, and Gruss hustled to grab the loose ball, earning Le Moyne an extra possession. Later in the possession, the ball swung to Baker on the left wing, and Abdul-Aziz came off a screen from the paint towards the three-point line. Baker passed the ball to Abdul-Aziz, who sank the shot from beyond the arc to give the Dolphins an 11-point lead.

The Hawks came down and got the ball to Hoyt at the high post, who converted the jumper. Then Steinman got a steal in the Le Moyne backcourt, missed a layup, grabbed her own rebound, passed the ball to Turco on the perimeter who swung it to Ouellette for a three-pointer. 30 seconds after the Dolphins took an 11-point lead, the Hawks cut the deficit back to just six points.

Abdul-Aziz responded with a massive three-point field goal at the other end off an assist from Gruss to extend Le Moyne's lead to 59-50 with 3:45 remaining in the fourth quarter.

The Hawks refused to go away, scoring two-point field goals on back-to-back possessions to trim their deficit to 59-54.

With 1:30 left in the game and the shot clock winding down during a broken Le Moyne possession, Baker got the ball near the right elbow, got past her defender and made a tough shot in the lane to put the 'Phins up 62-56.

Steinman drove to the basket and completed an old-fashioned three-point play with 1:16 remaining to make it 62-59 Le Moyne.

Hoyt sank a free throw with less than a minute remaining to make it 62-60 in favor of the Dolphins. During the ensuing Le Moyne possession, Fouracre got the ball on the right wing with the shot clock winding down. The senior point guard drove to the basket, squeezed between two defenders and made a layup on the right block with 22 seconds remaining to make it a two-possession game. The Hawks called timeout, and Fouracre let out a celebratory roar as her rejoicing teammates greeted her on the Le Moyne sideline.

Out of the timeout, the Dolphins played 13 seconds of intense woman-to-woman defense, and successfully contested a Steinman jump shot, which was off the mark. Gruss collected the defensive rebound and was able to dribble the clock out as the 'Phins came away with a 64-60 conference tournament victory.