HARTFORD, Conn. (March 3) – The Saint Vincent College women's basketball team saw its season come to an end in the NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament, falling 62-51 to SUNY Cortland in a first round game hosted by Trinity College.
 
After an evenly played, back-and-forth first quarter and a half, Cortland took advantage of a lengthy Saint Vincent cold spell to take a double-digit lead in the closing minutes of the second quarter. The Bearcats repeatedly battled back to pull to within single digits, but were unable to regain the lead and saw their storybook season come to an end with a 22-5 overall record.

Cortland moves to 24-4 and will advance to the round of 32, facing off against the winner of Friday's second first-round game between host Trinity and Notre Dame (Md.).
 
Emily Cavacini scored 17 points to lead three double-digit scorers for Saint Vincent, with Emily Thompson and Ella Marconi each adding 12 points apiece. Marconi also grabbed 10 rebounds for the double-double, while Madison Weber finished with nine caroms.
 
As has been the case throughout their storybook season, the Bearcats' defense was stout, allowing Cortland to shoot just 34 percent from the field, but the Red Dragons connected on seven three-point field goals and held a decisive 50-35 advantage in rebounding.
 
Saint Vincent took control early in the first quarter, jumping out to a 7-3 lead after four minutes, with five points from Thompson and two from Cavacini. At the mid-point of the quarter, Cavacini connected on a long three-pointer to give SVC a 10-6 lead, before a Marconi jumper pushed the advantage to five, 14-9, with 3:01 left in the first quarter. Cortland would seize the momentum to close the quarter, ending on a 10-2 run to take a 19-16 lead. Saint Vincent had seven first quarter field goals to Cortland's six, but the Red Dragons went 3-for-3 from behind the arc and 4-for-6 from the foul line.
 
The Red Dragons stayed hot to open the second quarter, while the Bearcats went ice cold. Cortland held the Bearcats scoreless for the first 6:23 of the second quarter, while bucketing eight straight points to take a double-digit lead, 27-16, with 4:41 left in the half. Marconi finally stopped the cold spell with a jumper with 3:37 left, and the Bearcats would outscore the Dragons 9-6 over the remainder of the half, with Cavacini's mid-range jumper on SVC's final trip of the half cutting Cortland's lead to 33-25.
 
The Bearcats continued to chip away at the deficit to open the second half, with a conventional three-point play from Lizzie Bender, followed by a fast break three-pointer from Cavacini, to close to within five, 38-33, with 7:56 left in the quarter. However, Cortland stormed back with a 12-2 run over the next five minutes to push its lead to 50-35 with 2:48 left in the third. Saint Vincent cut the gap to 10 over the final two minutes, with Marconi hitting a pair of jumpers and Cavacini nailing her third trey of the night to send the game into the fourth quarter with Cortland up, 50-40.

Cortland scored the first two buckets of the fourth quarter to open up a 15-point lead, 55-40, but the Bearcats cut the deficit to 12 on a Thompson three-pointer with 6:06 left that made the score 57-45. However, the Dragons countered with five unanswered points that pushed their lead to 62-45 with 2:09 left and put the game out of reach. Seniors Marconi and Weber each scored the final two points over the next minute, and Cavacini closed the game's scoring with a pair of free throws in the game's final minute to account for the final score.
 
Emily Morano scored a game-high 24 points, going 4-for-7 from deep, to lead the Red Dragons, while teammate Casey Travers added 15 points and Sarah Tully grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds.
 
The Bearcats won the turnover battle, forcing 12 while committing only 11, but Cortland finished with a 16-6 advantage in points in the paint and used 19 offensive rebounds to score 19 second-chance points.
 
The loss marked the final game in the careers of senior Marconi, Weber and Anna Betz. Over their four-year careers, the veteran trio helped the Bearcats to a 59-26 record and a pair of Presidents' Athletic Conference championships (2021, 2023).  
 
This marked Saint Vincent's fourth trip to the NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament (2011, 2012, 2019, 2023), while it is Saint Vincent's 11th all-time trip to the national tournament, after appearing in eight NAIA tournaments between 1992 and 2003.