BOSTON, Mass. - The #4-seeded Norwich University women's basketball team concluded the 2025-26 campaign on Friday night, falling to top-seeded Emmanuel College, 71-57, in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Semifinals at the Jean Yawkey Center.

Three Cadets reached double figures, led by a near double-double from Cassidy Kittredge (Waterford, Vt.), who scored 19 points on 8-of-12 shooting while pulling down nine rebounds, including 15 points in the opening half.  Jade Garceau (Fairfield, Vt.) delivered a career-high 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting, and Jessica Zimmerman (Turner, Maine) added 11 points in her final collegiate contest.

Norwich established early momentum, opening on a 5-0 run behind baskets from Zimmerman and Kittredge before Emmanuel answered.  Even after the Saints evened the score at 7-7, the Cadets rebuilt a five-point cushion with contributions from Gracie Laster (Arlington, Va.), Kittredge, and a free throw from Eleonore Collins (Waterville, N.Y.).  Emmanuel closed the first quarter with nine unanswered points, however, seizing a 16-12 advantage entering the second.

The teams traded baskets through the opening four minutes of the second frame, with Norwich trailing 26-22 following a Kittredge layup.  Emmanuel's first three-pointer of the night, coupled with two free throws, stretched the margin to nine, its largest of the half.  The Cadets remained within reach over the final four minutes, preventing the Saints from extending the lead to double digits and trimming the deficit to five in the closing seconds on a Zimmerman free throw to make it 34-29 at the break.

Zimmerman opened the third quarter with a jumper to narrow the gap to three, but Emmanuel responded with a decisive stretch, outscoring Norwich 18-9 in the period.  A Saints three-pointer with 3:41 remaining pushed the lead into double figures, and Emmanuel extended the margin to 17 in the final minute of the quarter.  Garceau provided a spark on the Cadets' final possession, converting an old-fashioned three-point play to send Norwich into the fourth trailing 52-38.

Norwich twice cut the deficit to 10 in the early stages of the final stanza, but a 12-2 Emmanuel run proved decisive, stretching the Saints' lead to its largest margin of the night at 67-47 with 3:45 remaining.  The Cadets continued to compete in the closing minutes, trimming the deficit to 12, but the gap remained too much to overcome.

Norwich finished with a 34-30 edge in points in the paint while shooting 44.0 percent from the floor.  The Cadets limited Emmanuel to 33.8 percent shooting overall and 21.7 percent from three-point range.

The Cadets close the 2025-26 season with a 13-13 overall record and an 8-4 mark in GNAC play, reaching the conference semifinals for the first time since 2017.  Emmanuel advances to host #2 Saint Joseph's College of Maine, which defeated #6 Albertus Magnus College in Friday's semifinal round, in Sunday's GNAC Championship.