BOSTON – Senior Heather LeBlanc (Sanford, Maine) recorded 18 points and 14 rebounds for the Norwich University women's basketball team in Thursday's 73-67 loss to Emmanuel (Mass.) College in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference semifinals. 

The Cadets finish the 2016-17 campaign with a 16-11 overall record following a regular season that saw them post a 9-7 mark against GNAC foes. Norwich defeated Suffolk in the conference quarterfinals on Tuesday, earning the right to take on Emmanuel (20-7) – the Saints will now face-off against Saint Joseph's (Maine) this Saturday, Feb. 25 at 1 p.m. 

Senior Leanne Winans (Hudson, N.H.) scored 14 points for the Cadets while classmate Kayla Mercer (New Britain, Conn.) poured home 10 points, adding a team-best five assists for Norwich. 

Norwich trailed by as many as eight points in the first quarter, but used a three-point basket by sophomore Emily Oliver (Sagamore Hills, Ohio) to spark a nine-point Norwich run, capped by a LeBlanc layup, to give the Cadets a 13-12 lead. Both teams would trade baskets down the stretch, but back-to-back free throw makes by Jen Chalk gave the hosts a 17-16 edge through the first 10 minutes. 

Winans and LeBlanc created two separate three-point leads for the Cadets to start the second quarter, but six-straight points by Emmanuel lifted the Saints to a four-point lead, 31-27, with 2:54 to go in the first half. A late layup by Olivia Marks created a 37-32 advantage for Emmanuel entering halftime – in the first 20 minutes alone, the Saints punished the Cadets with 10 points off of their turnovers, despite being outscored in the paint (18-to-14) and on second-chance points (7-to-4). 

Down by only four points with 6:47 left in the third quarter, the Saints put the game out of reach by hitting three-straight treys – the scoring run for Emmanuel would eventually grow to 15-straight points, building the lead to 58-39 with 3:49 left in the quarter. 

Trailing by 17 points in the fourth quarter, nine-straight points by the Cadets made things interesting as Harrison capped the furious scoring run with a three-pointer with 2:21 left in regulation time. The early deficit was too much to overcome for Norwich, who shrunk the lead to six points, 73-67, with 24 seconds left on the scoreboard following a Winans layup. 

Chalk led Emmanuel with 18 points while Marks finished her evening with 12 points. Ryan Maynard poured home 10 points for the Saints, who shot 50% from the floor (27-for-54), but only 61.5% from the charity stripe (16-for-26). 

LeBlanc finishes her Norwich career with 1,463 career points scored in 108 games played, averaging 13.5 per game, and her 1,046 rebounds is second all-time in team history. Winans and Mercer capped off outstanding senior campaigns for the Cadets, the former starting 26-of-27 games and setting career-highs in field goals made (66), field goal percentage (.458) and rebounding (193) and the latter in field goal percentage (.306), rebounding (113), assists (62) and steals (30).