COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Ursinus Women's Basketball team earned a hard-fought 53-47 win over Washington College in the First Round of the Centennial Conference Tournament on Tuesday evening at Helfferich Hall.
 
 
With the win, the Bears improved to 16-10 overall and will advance to the Centennial Conference semifinals for the second time in the past three seasons. Ursinus will face Gettysburg on Friday night. Meanwhile, the Shorewomen will wrap up their season with a 13-13 overall record.
 
 
Senior Madison Smith became the 18th player in Ursinus Women's Basketball program history to reach the 1,000 career point mark and led all scorers with 16 points while grabbing six rebounds, three assists, and one steal. Senior Ava Possenti tallied 11 points, four steals, three rebounds, and three assists and junior Erin Glanz posted 10 points, two rebounds, and two steals.
 
 
The Bears defense came to play in the first quarter as they held the Shorewomen without a point for a span of nearly 3:44 and to just two points in the first 6:39 of the game. That allowed Ursinus to stretch out to an 11-2 lead behind a pair of three-pointers from Possenti and five points from Smith. The Shorewomen worked their way back to get down two points at 11-9 at the 8:45-mark of the second quarter as the Bears went a span of 5:59 without a point. Glanz knocked down a three-pointer to give Ursinus a 14-9 lead which started an 11-3 run that put Ursinus up 22-12 with 4:24 left in the first half. Sophomore Ruth O'Keeffe capped the first half with a three-pointer at the 1:34-mark and sent the Bears into the half with a 27-16 advantage.
 
 
Smith eclipsed the 1,000-point mark for the first points of the second half and put the Bears up 29-16 before the Shorewomen used a 10-2 run to get within 31-26 at the 4:19-mark of the third quarter. Ursinus shrugged off the run with a 7-3 burst of their own to go up 38-29 with 1:04 left in the third quarter. The Bears traded blows in the fourth quarter but answered every Shorewomen point to maintain at least a five-point lead. Leading 42-37 with 5:51 left in regulation, the Bears delivered the decisive 6-0 run that put them up 48-37 at the 2:59-mark. From there Ursinus staved off a late Shorewomen charge to preserve the win.
 
 
The Bears shot 33.3 percent (17-of-51) from the field and 31.6 percent (6-of-19) from three-point range. Ursinus went a solid 13-of-17 (76.5%) from the free throw line and forced 18 turnovers that led to 17 points. The Shorewomen shot 42.6 (20-of-47) from the field and just 25 percent (3-of-12) from three-point range. Washington went just 4-of-13 (30.8%) from the free throw line and held a slight 35-32 edge in rebounds that led to an 11-3 advantage in second chance points.  
 
 
The Bears return to action on Friday, February 27^th as they head to face the No. 2 seed Gettysburg in the Centennial Conference Semifinals at 8:00 p.m.