Garden City, N.Y. - Despite leading by 12 points after the first quarter, the No. 8 and top-seeded Adelphi University women's basketball team dropped a 71-59 decision to the Northeast Division's No. 2 seed, Saint Anselm College, in the semifinals of the 2020 Northeast-10 Conference Championship at the Center for Recreation and Sport in Garden City.

The Panthers (27-3) will now await word on where they will be seeded in next week's NCAA Tournament. The bracket will be announced Sunday night (Mar. 8) at 10 p.m. on NCAA.com.

Behind an incredible 65.0 percent shooting mark from the field, Adelphi led 28-16 at the conclusion of one period of play. The Panthers ended the quarter on a 13-4 run, draining six consecutive field goals, capped by a jumper from Emily Miccile.

The Hawks (21-6) returned the favor in the second quarter, shooting 64.3 percent (9-of-14) from the field and holding Adelphi to just 18.8 percent shooting. The two teams would head into halftime dead even at 36-apiece.

The tie followed into the fourth quarter, as Adelphi and Saint Anselm remained deadlocked, this time at 50-all, after three periods of play.

The Panthers were again bit by the Hawks' high-percentage shooting in the final 10 minutes. Saint Anselm outscored Adelphi 20-9 in the fourth quarter and pulled away for the win. The Brown and Gold managed to cut a 10-point lead in half with 3:13 left, but that was as close as they came the rest of the way. 

Trailing 62-57, Fallyn Stephens nearly rattled home a transition three-pointer at the 2:50 mark to close the gap to two points, but her shot went halfway down and squirted out.

Katie Murphy led the Panthers with a team-high 19 points. She also added five assists, four rebounds and two steals. Stephens collected 14 points, while Miccile had 10 points. Leonie Edringer chipped in eight points, four steals and three rebounds.