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Sports

Mighty Macs Conquer Centenary, 87-59

Immaculata advances to CSAC semis with rout of Cylones; will face Marywood on Wednesday.

Had it been a heavyweight fight, it would have been stopped by halftime.

Immaculata University's women's basketball team had little trouble advancing to the Colonial States Athletic Conference semi-finals as they ran lock, stock and fast break past Centenary College of New Jersey, 87-59, at Immaculata's Alumnae Hall.

The win sends the Mighty Macs to the semi-final round against Marywood University on Wednesday night in Scranton. The winner of that game will head to the conference final on Saturday to play the winner of Gwynedd Mercy-Neumann University. If Gwynedd Mercy and Immaculata win, the Macs would host the title game.

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When the Mighty Macs (18-8 overall, 12-4 conference) and Cyclones met during the regular season, Immaculata laid a 99-75 pasting on the Hackettstown squad. Monday was absolutely no different as the Cyclones were defenseless against a team that averages 72.7 points per game.

The two teams stayed close for a few minutes at the start, and, with 11 minutes left in the half, Immaculata led 15-14. However seconds later, the avalanche started for Centenary (13-12 overall, 12-4 conference) as Rachel Denis scored to make it 19-14.

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That Mighty Mac advantage went to 23-16 on three points from Leah Kuczynski at 7:49, then 30-18 at 5:23 when Chelsea McTigue did what she did well all night — score points. The Villa Maria graduate finished as high scorer with 18 points just a few nights after scoring the 1,000th point of her college career.

If there was a sign it was going to be a long night for the Cyclones, it came with 1:32 left in the first half. McTigue was fouled, missed both of her free throws, swooped in and grabbed the rebound, scored, and was fouled again on the play.

The whole scenario left Centenary staring at a 38-25 hill to climb which went to 40-25 at intermission when the Macs' Brianna Duffin hit two foul shots.

The blitz continued during the second 20 minutes, as well. A bucket from Kuczynski (18 points) at 16:52 made it 48-32, then a layup by Bridget Welz pushed the lead for Immaculata to 57-32 ... and there was still 10 minutes to play in the game.

Immaculata head coach Pat Canterino started running substitutes in and out, but it never slowed the Macs offense. Kelly Brown canned back-to-back baskets at 9:04 (65-41), and by the time the clock had run down to the three-minute mark, it was 76-50.

To put a dagger in the Cyclones' heart, the Macs sent freshman Marisa Kinsey into the game with less than a minute left. Kinsey raced to the corner with the ball and lofted an arcing shot for three points that never touched the rim, sending the standing-room-only crowd into a frenzy and the Macs to the conference semi-finals, 87-59.

The Mighty Macs shot 47.9 percent from the floor for the game and an incredible 59.5 percent during the second half. Out of their 87 points, 44 came from inside the paint. Meanwhile Centenary had a 33.3 percent night field goal-wise. Jen Vista led the Cyclones with 15 points.

Immaculata is the third seed in the tournament while Centenary was the sixth seed.

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