Fellow freshman Kate Walck (Lancaster, PA/Hempfield) also reached double figures for the Cavaliers (19-7) who advance to Saturday’s PAC Final at top-seeded Gwynedd-Mercy College, an 81-60 winner over #5 Neumann in Wednesday’s other semifinal.
After trailing by as many as 21 points early in the second half, Alvernia had a look at a corner 3 to pull within five with just over four minutes remaining, but it rimmed out and the Cavs scored nine straight points to regain a comfortable margin.
Sophomore guard Tenay Gaddy (LaPlata, MD/McDonough) came off the bench to score a team-high 13 points for the Crusaders (16-11) who will await a possible invitation into the Eastern College Athletic Conference Southern Region Tournament. That decision will be made on a conference call Monday morning.
DiAmico broke a 2-2 tie with her first of four first-half 3s and the hosts built an early seven point lead, 13-6. Alvernia senior Lauren Fortna (Lebanon, PA/Lebanon Catholic) cut into the lead with a 3, her only bucket of the first half, but the Cavs put together a string of seven straight to push the gap to 11 points, 20-9 with 11:41 left in the half.
That lead grew to 15 on a Kayleen Smith (Williamstown, NJ/St. Joseph’s) jumper four minutes later, and when Nikki Duggan (Allentown, PA/Emmaus) hit a 3 at the 3:38 mark, the Cavs held their largest lead of the half at 20 points, 39-19. Cabrini knocked down 6-of-15 attempts from beyond the 3-point arc in the half led by DiAmico who was 4-for-5 from long range over the opening 20 minutes.
Gaddy hit a jumper to cut into the Cabrini lead and the guests ran off eight straight to cut the gap to 12 points, 39-27 with 55 seconds left before the break. The Crusaders had a few chances to pull closer, but missed a pair from the floor and DiAmico’s fifth assist of the half set up Brittany McLeod (Fairless Hills, PA/Conwell-Egan) for a layup as the horn sounded and the Cavs hit the break with a 41-27 lead.
Cabrini scored the first seven points of the second half capped by five from DiAmico to take a 21-point lead with 17:40 left to play. Alvernia chipped that lead to 15 points with a quick 6-0 spurt sparked by Michelle Lutzkanin’s (Hummelstown, PA/Lower Dauphin) only 3 of the night, and after trading buckets for three minutes, put together a 10-2 run to pull within eight points, 56-48 with 5:42 to go.
Cabrini went scoreless on its next three possessions, but Alvernia turned it over twice and had the missed 3 before the Cavs late 9-0 run. Fortna finished the night with eight points and senior forward Erin Knarr (Sinking Spring, PA/Wilson) finished with seven points and a team-high 10 rebounds.
#2 Cabrini 72, #3 Alvernia 56