Box Score

On Friday afternoon the Griffins paired up against the Golden Eagles of the University of Charleston in the WVIAC tournament semifinals at the Charleston Civic Center. The Griffins soared past the Golden Eagles with a 61-49 victory to earn their first ever WVIAC Tournament final appearance in school history.  Seton Hill improves to 19-12 on the season.
 
In the first half the Griffins came out ready to play. Tiara Stossel and Meghan Mastroianni each drained a three pointer to give Seton Hill a 6-4 lead early in the game at the 17:59 mark. SHU led 8-6 at the 15 minute mark before they went on their first run of the game.  The Griffins went on a 6-0 run on two baskets from Paige Alviani and a tip in from Mallory Sanner after an offensive rebound to take a 14-6 lead with 11:25 to play.  Sanner then gave the Griffins their largest lead of the half with a three pointer to give SHU a 20-10 lead with 7:51 to play.  After exchanging three pointers, the Griffins led 26-19 with 3:03 to play.  Sanner hit a basket with 2:31 to play and Alviani closed out the first half scoring with a basket at the 12 second mark to give the Griffins a 31-19 halftime lead. 
 
In the second half the Griffins managed to maintain an advantage the entire half. Seton Hill began the half with a jumper from Paige Alviani and a two made foul shots from Katie Gattuso to extend the Griffins lead 34-19.   Seton Hill went on a 7-0 run to make it a 43-25 contest at the 9:48 mark. Charleston was not done fighting yet. They made their last run at the Griffins with 3 three pointers and a jump shot to quickly cut the Griffins lead to 7 points, 43-36 with 7:20 remaining on the clock. Seton Hill quickly increased their advantage with a little 6-0 run extending the lead back 13 points, 49-36 with 5:46 left in the game. Alviani closed out the run with a three pointer. 

Two UC free throws cut the lead to 11 but an uncontested layin from Sanner after the Griffins broke the UC press pushed the lead back to 13 at 51-38 with 4:10 to play.  Back to back UC buckets trimmed the lead to 8 with 3:45 to play.  Gattuso then hit two free throws to extend the lead back to 10.  UC scored one of their final basket of the contest with a three at the three minute mark to make the score 53-46.  SHU hit their free throws down the stretch as Alviani and Gattuso each hit 2 of 2 to send the Griffins to the finals. 
 
Paige Alviani led the Griffins scoring 19 points.  She also added 5 assists.  Katie Gattuso added a double double scoring 18 points and grabbing 15 rebounds.  Gattuso also scored her 1,000th career point in the win.  Mallory Sanner added 9 points and 8 rebounds off the bench.  Tiara Stossel tossed in 7.  With the win Seton Hill advances to the WVIAC Tournament Finals and will play Fairmont State on Saturday at 1:07PM. The game will be broadcasted live on Root Sports Pittsburgh at 1:00PM.