WESTMINSTER, Md. – McDaniel closed the third quarter on an 18-0 run to open up a 56-45 lead en route to a 73-63 victory over Mt. Aloysius in the opening round of the 2016 McDaniel Tipoff Tournament in women's basketball action on Friday.

Halle Burgess (Ashton, Md./Good Counsel) led the Green Terror (1-1) with a career-best 20 points, including hitting 5 of 7 from behind the 3-point line. McDaniel advances to Saturday's championship game against No. 6 St. Thomas. The Tommies defeated Juniata 77-43 in the night's other first-round matchup.

Jessa Wright paced the Mounties (0-1) with 14 points and seven rebounds.

Trailing 45-38 on an Abby Kulick 3-pointer – one of 13 hit by Mt. Aloysius on the night – with 4:06 to play, Karli Zeps (Reisterstown, Md./Seton Keough) hit a layup to spark the game-changing run 17 seconds later.

Burgess contributed eight points during the run while Melanie Yeomans (Adamstown, Md./South Hagerstown) and Jasmine Smith (Baltimore, Md./Baltimore Polytechnic Institute) added four each.

Hannah Drenning cut the deficit to single digits on the Mounties' first possession of the fourth quarter but a Sarah Bach (Manchester, Md./Manchester Valley) jumper pushed the lead to double digits for good with 8:21 to play.

After Katie Bracken hit a 3-pointer to give the visitors a 3-2 edge early in the game, the Green Terror reeled off eight straight points.

The lead swelled as large as 20-6 with 1:22 to play in the first quarter on the first of Burgess' triples.

However, two Kulick free throws with 32 ticks remaining in the period sparked a 24-8 run that gave Mt. Aloysius the lead.

Treys from Wright and Breana Kendrick on back-to-back possessions capped the run with 2:39 to play in the second quarter.

The Mounties added eight of the first 10 points in the second half to extended the lead to as large as 40-32.

Smith finished with 16 points and seven assists while Zeps added 14 points and five steals.

Game time on Saturday is 4 p.m.

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