BOSTON, Mass.—The eighth-seeded Norwich University women's basketball team pulled off an overtime upset by downing the top-ranked Saints of Emmanuel College 84-78 in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) quarterfinals on Tuesday evening.

With the win, the Cadets have handed the Saints their first loss against a conference opponent since Feb. 9, 2010 and have unseated the seven-time defending GNAC champions. Prior to tonight, the Saints had won 64-straight games against GNAC schools. Norwich will advance to the GNAC semifinal for the first time since the 2009-10 season and will travel to No. 5 Johnson & Wales. JWU upset No. 4 Suffolk 59-45 earlier Tuesday evening.

Junior Aliah Curry (Windsor, Mass.) scored 33 points on the strength of an 18-for-19 performance at the free-throw line. She also netted six field goals, three of which were from behind the three-point arc. Classmate Kelsey Lotti (South Yarmouth, Mass.) added 20 points on a 5-for-10 effort from the floor, four of which were triples.

Both Curry and senior forward Erin Clark (Newbury, Vt.) finished with nine rebounds for the Cadets.

Emmanuel was led by Sarah Higgins with 21 points and eight rebounds. Jennifer Bujnowski added a double-double of 18 points and 11 rebounds off the bench, while Lena Negri and Britni Mikulancz added 12 and 10 points, respectively.

Norwich was in it from the tip and jumped out to an early 9-4 lead after three-pointers on their first three possessions, including a pair from Lotti and another from Curry.  The visitors pushed the spread to 15-6, with Lotti and Curry accounting for all of the Norwich points, forcing an Emmanuel timeout at the fifteen-minute mark.

Out of the timeout, the Saints put together an 8-0 run, which spanned the next four minutes and Emmanuel trailed by just one at 15-14.  Junior forward Tory Kethro (Barnstable, Mass.) would end the drought for the Cadets on a jumper from the right side with just under 11:00 to go in the half.

Norwich remained packed in its half-court zone defense, forcing the Saints to shoot from the outside, but Emmanuel would hit just 1 of 11 from long-range in the first half.  Sophomore guard Higgins penetrated, finding a seam in the zone and connecting on an and-one, to give the Saints the lead at 19-17.

Approaching the five-minute mark, Higgins scored again in the paint for the Saints, but Emmanuel fouls sent Curry to the line and the junior guard knocked down four freebies in the early-going to keep things close at 23-21.

Emmanuel forward  Bujnowski scored on consecutive possessions and Heather LeBlanc (Sanford, Me.) sunk a bucket in the post at the opposite end to set the score at 27-24.  Norwich senior Kristin Brown (Williamstown, Vt.) netted a jumper to cut the visitors' deficit to one point with less than two minutes to play in the half.

Junior Katrina Laidlaw (Dunblane, Scotland) would score from the right block for the Cadets and Higgins stuck a triple in the final seconds for the Saints to give EC a slim 30-28 edge at the half.  The lead switched hands six times in the opening twenty minutes.

Higgins led all scorers at the break with 14 points off of 6-11 shooting for Emmanuel.  Curry led the Cadets with 11 first-half points, 6 boards and 3 assists.

Second-half action began with another old-fashioned three-point play by Higgins, before Lotti dialed in from downtown for the Cadets, knotting the contest at 35-all.  Norwich scored twice quickly to take a 39-35 lead, as the Saints continued to struggle with their outside shooting.

An Emmanuel hoop down low from Bujnowski and four free throws by Mikulanecz were part of another 8-0 Saints' run and EC took a 43-39 lead, approaching the fifteen-minute mark.

Norwich then put together an 11-6 run to surge back out in front by one at 50-49.  With both teams in the bonus and over nine minutes to play, it became apparent that the contest would be won on the free throw line, as Curry poured in two more freebies and Norwich led by four, 55-51.

Emmanuel's Jasmine Burwell and Negri each sunk a pair from the stripe to tie it up again, 55-all, with 8:07 on the clock.  The Saints' free throws were part of the third 8-0 EC run of the game, forcing a Norwich timeout with the Cadets trailing 59-55 and 6:24 remaining.

Sophomore forward Donovan Driscoll (Chelmsford, Mass.) scored down low and Curry nailed a triple for the Cadets, giving Norwich a 60-59 edge with four minutes to go. 

With the game knotted in its fifteenth tie of the night at 61-all and three minutes left, Higgins picked up her fourth personal foul and Curry knocked down one of two.  Shaniya Rentie  then hit a free throw for Emmanuel to tie the game again at 62-all.

Brown would hit from long range on Norwich's next possession, forcing an Emmanuel timeout with 1:20 left to play and the Saints trailing by three, 65-62.  A foul by the Saints put Curry on the line again and the junior guard hit both to take a 67-62 lead with 51.8 second left.

The hosts were successful on their next possession, as Negri scored on a put-back with 40.3 to go.  The Saints were then forced to foul and Brown hit both free throws to set the score at 69-64.  Norwich then fouled Negri at the opposite end and she hit both of her attempts from the stripe and EC signaled for a timeout down three, 69-66, with 28 seconds to play.

Emmanuel's intense pressure defense would not allow Norwich to inbound the ball on the baseline, forcing the Cadets to call a timeout.  Out of the timeout, the Saints then forced a five-second call and a turnover by Norwich.  Trailing by three, Higgins found freshman guard Sarah Schemerhorn open in the corner and the rookie buried the trifecta with 0:21 on the clock to tie the game at 69-all.  Norwich could not put anything together on its final possession and the quarterfinal contest was sent into overtime.

The Saints opened overtime with a turnover and Norwich went out in front once again off of points from the line.  The game would see three more ties in the OT period, but Curry nailed a three-ball with 2:41 on the clock to put Norwich out in front, 78-74, and the Cadets would never relinquish the lead.

The Saints forced Norwich turnovers on consecutive possessions, but could not manufacture points at the other end.  Emmanuel got 15 shots off in overtime, compared to just three by Norwich, but the Saints were out-scored, 15-9 in the extra frame.

Hoops from the line by Bujnowski cut the Saints' deficit to two (78-76) with 1:05 left, but Emmanuel would come no closer.  Norwich sunk six free throws in the final minute to pull off the 84-78 shocker.

Emmanuel shot 29-94 (30.9%) from the floor, nearly doubling the team field goal attempts taken by the Cadets (22-53). However, the Saints sent Norwich to the line 41 times and the visitors were clutch all night, sinking 32 of their 41 attempts (78%).  Emmanuel out-rebounded Norwich, 57-47 and the Saints forced 28 turnovers by the Cadets, but Emmanuel could never recover from its dismal outside shooting (2-28) at 7.1% on the night.

Courtesy of Emmanuel Sports Information