Syracuse, N.Y. – The second-seeded Le Moyne College women's basketball team claimed a wire-to-wire victory over third-seeded FDU in the Northeast Conference Tournament Semifinals by a score of 52-38 on Thursday night at Ted Grant Court.

With the win Le Moyne advances to the NEC Tournament Championship game, where they will take on top-seeded Sacred Heart on Sunday at 12 p.m. at SHU's William H. Pitt Center in Fairfield. The game will air on ESPNU.

Le Moyne (18-13, 14-2 NEC) was the only team to beat Sacred Heart (23-9, 15-1 NEC) in the NEC regular season when the Dolphins bested the Pios at the William H. Pitt Center 60-56 on January 15. SHU, the defending NEC Tournament Champions, avenged that loss with a 73-55 victory in Syracuse on February 3.

Watch postgame media availability of Le Moyne head coach Mary Grimes and guards Lytoya Baker and Kaia Goode.

The Box Score:
Fifth-year guard Lytoya Baker (Rochester, N.Y./Bishop Kearney) led Le Moyne in scoring on Thursday with 17 points in addition to eight rebounds, three assists, three steals and a career-high-tying three blocks in 37 minutes played.

Graduate guard Sydney Lusher (Oneida, N.Y./Oneida) also scored in double figures for the Dolphins with 15 points on 7-12 shooting from the field in addition to five rebounds and two steals in 37 minutes played.

Sophomore guard Kaia Goode (Rochester, N.Y./Bishop Kearney) added eight points with one field goal and 6-6 shooting from the free-throw line with three assists in 35 minutes of action, while junior forward Brianna Williams (Brampton, Ontario/Southwest Academy/Hartford) pulled down a career-high 11 rebounds, and junior guard Emily Florvil (Brooklyn, N.Y./Nazareth) collected a career-high-tying seven rebounds for the fourth time this season.

Le Moyne tallied 47 rebounds as a team during the win, which was two shy of their season high.

The Dolphins shot 3-10 from three-point range, but went 13-14 from the free-throw line, compared to 4-23 from three and 2-4 from the line for FDU.

FDU senior forward Teneisia Brown, who recorded 30 points and 10 rebounds during the Knights' NEC Quarterfinal win over LIU on Monday, provided a team-high 12 points and a team-high 10 rebounds on Thursday against the Dolphins.

Sophomore forward Lilly Parke also scored in doubled figures for FDU with 10 points in addition to seven rebounds, while senior guard Abaigeal Babore added seven points in 39 minutes played.

How it Happened:
FDU got off to a slow start offensively, shooting 1-17 from the field, including 0-6 from three-point range during the first quarter.

Le Moyne began the game on a 10-0 run with the help of six points from Baker, but FDU held the Dolphins scoreless during the final 4:18 of the opening quarter and trailed 10-3 after 10 minutes of play.

Babore knocked down a corner three during FDU's first possession of the second quarter, but Le Moyne scored the next two baskets on a coast-to-coast fast break layup from Baker, followed by a nice drive and finish from Lusher at the 8:12 mark. The two sides traded baskets for the remainder of the second period.

Parke swished a three from straight on with 4:22 remaining in the half to make it a four-point game, then FDU's Bella Toomey answered a paint jumper from Baker at the 4:00 mark with a jumper of her own less than a minute later. A Roberts three pointer in transition with 2:20 left in the second quarter made it 31-14 in favor of the Dolphins, then following a free throw from Baker, Brown converted back-to-back baskets in the paint to once again trim Le Moyne's lead to four points.

Baker scored the final basket of the half with a running layup with just over 30 seconds left to give the Dolphins a 24-18 lead at the intermission.

Through the first six minutes and three seconds of the third quarter, Le Moyne went on an 8-2 run to extend its lead to 32-20, then FDU freshman guard Wilma Sorensen knocked down a three pointer from the left corner to trim the deficit back to single digits.

Lusher responded for the 'Phins by draining a pull up jumper from just above the left elbow. Two free throws made by Baker with 31 seconds left in the third quarter were negated by a layup from Brown that went in just before the buzzer, and Le Moyne took a 36-25 lead into the fourth quarter.

Le Moyne then led by double digits for the entire fourth quarter.

During Le Moyne's first possession of the final frame, Lusher accepted a pass from Goode in the left corner and buried a triple.

Brown scored a layup at the other end off a nice feed from Parke, but Goode delivered another assist during the next Le Moyne possession by driving into the paint and kicking the ball out to Roberts who hit nothing but net on her midrange jumper from the left side.

Lusher scored her 14^th and 15^th points of the game with just under eight minutes remaining when she drove through the center of the paint and placed her running layup off the backboard.

Following a 30 second timeout by FDU, Parke scored a jumper in the paint off a pass from Brown which allowed FDU to set up their full court pressure.

Goode passed the ball to Baker, who raced across midcourt near the right sideline. Baker drove all the way the baseline, then veered left into the paint where she drew the attention of three defenders. Baker jumped and threw a pass over Brown to Lusher on the left wing. Lusher had a wipe open three, but with two defenders charging at her she made the extra pass to her left for Linnin who swished her 54^th three pointer of the season to give the Dolphins a 46-29 lead with 7:23 remaining.

FDU responded with a quick 7-0 run via a three from Parke, a putback layup from Brown, and a fast break layup from Toomey on a nice pass from senior guard Abby Conklin.

Le Moyne held FDU scoreless during its next three possessions, and Baker ended the run by scoring a fast break layup off a full court inbound pass from Goode with 2:37 left in the fourth.

Brown scored the final field goal of the game with a layup at the 1:28 mark, then Le Moyne closed out the victory with four consecutive made free throws by Kaia Goode.

NEC Tournament Semifinal Highlights: Le Moyne vs. FDU

Looking Ahead:
Two impressive win streaks will be on the line during Sunday's Northeast Conference Championship game. The Pioneers have won each of their last 14 games since losing to Le Moyne at home in January, and Le Moyne has ripped off nine straight wins since falling to the Pios at home in February.

The Pioneers earned a spot in the NEC Championship game for the second consecutive season with a 73-41 win over fourth-seeded Merrimack on Monday in the semis.

Sacred Heart will be looking for its second consecutive NEC Championship, while Le Moyne will be attempting to win a conference title in its first season as a Division I member of the Northeast Conference.

Since Le Moyne is ineligible to compete in the NCAA Tournament as a reclassifying institution, Sacred Heart has already secured the conference's automatic qualifier and will compete in March Madness for the second straight year.

Le Moyne last appeared in a conference tournament title game during the 2018-19 season, when a McKayla Roberts led Le Moyne squad took down nationally ranked Bentley in the Northeast-10 Conference Championship. Mary Grimes was an assistant coach on that team as part of Gina Castelli's coaching staff.

Sunday will mark the third conference tournament championship game appearance in Le Moyne women's basketball program history.

Thursday was Le Moyne's final home game of the season. The Dolphins will finish the campaign with a 9-3 record at Ted Grant Court, including a 9-1 record at home against NEC opponents.