AMHERST, Mass. – The Amherst College women's basketball team is still dancing as one of the final four teams that will compete for the NCAA Division III Championship after a 79-68 win over Trinity University in the national quarterfinals on Saturday night at LeFrak Gymnasium.

Five Mammoths scored in double figures in Amherst's highest-scoring game of the season. The Mammoths, who entered the tournament ranked eighth in the D3hoops.com Poll and ninth in the WBCA Coaches Poll, improved to 25-3 and will return to the national semifinals for the first time since winning the national championship in 2018.

The Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference champion Tigers, who entered the tournament ranked 13th in the D3hoops.com Poll and 10th in the WBCA Coaches Poll, will return to Texas with a final record of 28-3 as their 27-game winning streak was halted.

The Mammoths will now face Wisconsin-Whitewater in the national semifinals on Thursday (March 17) in Pittsburgh.

GAME HIGHLIGHTS:

* The Tigers, fresh off yesterday's win over previously unbeaten Christopher Newport, came out strong in the first half, quickly building a 9-4 lead after a three and layup in transition from senior Hailey Coleman. The Mammoths tied the score at 11-11 with a pair of free throws from first-year guard AnLing Vera, but Trinity again hit back-to-back buckets and held a 13-18 lead at the end of the first quarter.

* The Tigers quickly extended the lead to nine points as the second quarter opened and held the lead through halftime, powered by Coleman shooting 7-of-7 from the floor in the first half.

* The Mammoths scored the last two baskets of the first half to cut the Trinity lead to 36-33 at the break and kept the momentum going into the second, putting together an 11-0 run that straddled halftime to reclaim the lead as senior forward Dani Valdez scored the first four points of the second half.

* With the score tied at 50-50, the Mammoths reeled off another 11-0 run, scoring on four straight possessions, including a pair of threes from senior guard Courtney Resch as the Mammoths shot 10-of-14 from the floor and 4-of-5 from beyond the arc in the third quarter.

* Amherst's hot shooting continued in the final frame as the Mammoths hit 6-of-10 shots from the floor to keep the lead in double figures throughout the fourth quarter.

BY THE NUMBERS:

* Valdez led the Mammoths with 17 points and a career-high 15 rebounds for her seventh double-double of the season.

* Resch scored 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the floor, including 3-of-4 from beyond the arc. She grabbed five rebounds and blocked three shots to move into second place among Amherst's all-time leaders with 176 career blocks. In passing Lem Atanga McCormick '12, who tallied 174 career blocks, Resch trails only the 229 blocks of Megan Robertson '15 and Resch has compiled her blocks in just three seasons as the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out the 2020-21 campaign.

* Senior guard Gabrielle Zaffiro tallied 14 points, 6 rebounds, 8 assists and 3 steals while Vera matched her 14 points and added 3 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals. Senior guard Lauren Pelosi also hit double figures with 11 points on 5-of-8 field goal shooting.

* The Mammoths scored a season-high 79 points in shooting 49 percent (28-of-57) from the field and hitting a season high 10 three-pointers out of 20 attempts, the most threes the Mammoths have made since a 2019 NCAA Tournament game against Husson.

* Coleman led the Tigers with 17 points on 7-of-11 field goal shooting in the game.