Garden City, N.Y. -- The top two seeds in the Northeast-10 Conference will fight for a championship on Sunday, as the Adelphi University women's basketball team erased a 19-point deficit en route to defeating the visiting Le Moyne College Dolphins, 67-57, in the Center for Recreation and Sport on Thursday night.

The Panthers, who trailed 36-17 with 5:40 to play until halftime, ended the second period on a 16-1 run to close the gap to single digits, before coming all the way back for the win in the second half. The Brown and Gold, the top seeds out of the NE10's Southwest Division, will host Bentley University, the No. 1 seeds out of the Northeast, at 1 pm on Sunday in Garden City, as the Falcons blew out Saint Anselm, 81-49, at home at the Dana Center in the other semifinal. 

Niajah Morgan provided a spark for the Panthers (25-4) off the bench for the second straight playoff game, tying a career-high, which she set in the previous round against Southern Connecticut State, with 19 points of 7-14 shooting and a quartet of three-pointers. Twelve of Simone Hobdy's 14 points came in the first half, as she and Morgan combined for 24 over the opening 20 minutes to keep Adelphi close, and she hauled in a career-high 14 rebounds for her fifth double-double on the season. The Sierra tandem came alive in the second half for the Panthers, as Sierra Clark scored 11 of her 13 in the second half with eight of her nine rebounds coming in the second 20 minutes as well, while Sierra Schrader connected on a pair of clutch threes to give Adelphi the lead late and totaled 11 total points. Finally, Calli Balfour was the second Panther to score a double-double, with 10 points and 12 rebounds to go along with five steals. Le Moyne's Ailayia Demand led three Dolphins in double-figures as she finished with 13, while Joanna Dobrovosky and McKayla Roberts each chipped in with 11.

The Dolphins (15-13) came out of the locker room on fire, shooting nearly 70% in the opening quarter to blitz the Panthers and push out to a 25-9 lead. After a Liz Millea layup gave the Dolphins their largest lead of the game, a Morgan three kick-started the period-ending run that saw the Panthers claw to within 37-33 as the two teams broke for the locker room. Morgan and Hobdy combined for 11 of Adelphi's 16 points to end the period, while Schrader sank her first three of the night to add points to the board as well. 

Scoring eight of the first 10 points of the third, Adelphi took its first lead since 2-0 on a Clark layup at 41-39, but the Dolphins hit straight back with nine of the next 11 to wrestle back a five-point lead, 48-43, with 2:19 to play in the frame. However, Clark got herself to the basket three times in the period's final minutes, scoring the last five herself to knot the game, 48-48, headed to the fourth.

Held without a field goal for the first 3:50 of the final period, a Balfour jumper put Adelphi back on top, 50-49, and a Clark layup yielded the biggest lead of the game of just three, 52-49, to that point. With the Dolphins pressing down by one, Schrader knocked down a right-side trey off the dish from Morgan to make it a four-point game, and knocked down a second just nearly two minutes later to stretch the lead to seven, 58-51, with 1:34 to play. The NE10's Rookie of the Year Roberts hit a pair of threes in the waning minutes to keep her team in the game, but nine points from the Panthers, including a Balfour steal and a fastbreak layup as time expired, secured the Brown and Gold's place in the final. 

The Panthers will host their second-ever NE10 Championship game, having won the title on home court in the 2014-15 season. Tipoff is slated for 1 pm.

NOTES
- The Panthers are 1-1 all-time in NE10 Championship games, finishing runner-up in the 2013-14 season to Bentley (99-76), and defeating AIC to win the title in 2014-15 (79-57).
- The Panthers defeated the Falcons, 62-60, in the teams' lone meeting this season on Jan. 11.

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About Adelphi Athletics:
Adelphi University joined the Northeast-10 Conference in the fall of 2009 and in the past six seasons has collected 18 regular season conference titles, 22 tournament championships, 29 individual crowns and captured the Northeast-10 President's Cup twice (2013 and 2014), while winning five NCAA Division II National Championships.

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