NEW HAVEN, Conn. - The Albertus Magnus College women's basketball team is moving on to the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) semifinals after defeating sixth-seeded Anna Maria College, 82-62 on Tuesday evening in the quarterfinals in The Nest.

Caitlyn Scott (White Plains, N.Y.) led all scorers with 26 points and Jakara Murray-Leach (Norwalk, Conn.) scored 13 points with a career-high 21 rebounds.

Diamond White (Hamden, Conn.) scored 15 points with five assists and four rebounds. Amanda Zdru (Stratford, Conn.) also scored 15, which was a season-high.

It was also the 199th career win for head coach J.R. Fredette.

Albertus - seeded third - will now head to Saint Joseph's College (Maine) to take on the second seeded Monks on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. in the GNAC semifinals.

THE BASICS

FINAL: Albertus Magnus 82 | Anna Maria 62

RECORDS: Albertus Magnus (17-9) | Anna Maria (15-11)

BOX

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Falcons trailed just once in the game, at 3-2 early on, but that was short-lived as Murray-Leach hit a jumper, followed by a three from Scott to make it a 7-3 game. On the next possession, Elizabeth Bruno (Providence, R.I.) stole the ball which led to a layup from Murray-Leach off an assist from White. White later hit two more three-pointers and scored nine in the opening quarter as the Falcons led 18-10 after the first ten minutes.
• Sarah Evangelista (West Haven, Conn.) hit a three to put Albertus up 21-12 and later in the quarter Zdru scored five straight points for Abertus as the Falcons took a 26-18 lead with 4:47 left.
• Anna Maria battled back, as Arianna Gonzalez hit a three followed by a layup from Marinique Reddin after grabbing an offensive rebound. The AMCATS tied the game, 27-27 before White hit a foul-line jumper to put the Falcons back up by two points. Reddin hit a shot on the opposite end, but Scott drove into the lane for a layup with seconds remaining to give the Falcons a 31-29 lead at halftime.
• The Falcons blitzed the AMCATS with the first nine points in the second half to take a 40-29 lead at the 8:14 mark. White started the scoring with a steal and score. On the next Albertus possession Murray-Leach grabbed an offensive rebound and found Zdru for a three. After another miss from Anna Maria, White grabbed a rebound, raced down the court and fed Scott with a bounce pass, leading to a layup. Zdru capped the run with a fastbreak layup off a pass from Murray-Leach, leading to an Anna Maria timeout.
• Albertus continued to build on its lead as Zdru and Evangelista each hit a three to put the Falcons ahead 52-35 with 3:59 on the clock. Scott scored the final four points of the quarter as the Falcons went up 59-40 heading to the fourth.
• The Falcons took their biggest lead of the game 21 second into the fourth as Murray-Leach grabbed an offensive rebound and made the put back to make it a 61-40 game.
• Anna Maria got no closer than 12 points the rest of the way as the Falcons went 12-for-16 from the free-throw line in the quarter. Scott scored 12 points in the final frame while Murray-Leach had five points and six rebounds.

TEAM STATS

Albertus

41.8 FG% | 28.1 3PT% | 70.8 FT%

Anna Maria

28.6 FG% | 24.0 3PT% | 69.6 FT%

LEADERS

Albertus

Caitlyn Scott 26 Points | 7-14 FG | 11-14 FT | 6 Rebounds | 7 Assists | 2 Steals | 2 Blocks

Jakara Murray-Leach 13 Points | 21 Rebounds | 3 Assists | 3 Blocks

Diamond White 15 Points | 4 Rebounds | 5 Assists

Amanda Zdru 15 Points | 5-9 FG | 3-7 3PT 

Anna Maria

Marinique Reddin 24 Points | 18 Rebounds 

Madison Paulhus 12 Points | 5 Rebounds | 3 Assists | 3 Steals

Arianna Gonzalez 11 Points | 5 Rebounds

NOTEWORTHY

Murray-Leach now has 12 double-doubles on the season and has acheived the feat in three consecutive games.

Albertus is now 16-5 all-time against Anna Maria.

Albertus has now made the GNAC semifinals in six of the last seven seasons.