Val Beckwith '09 drives against Trinity in Bates' 76-71 loss. Beckwith finishes her career with 1,470 points, eight behind all-time leader Emily King '00.

LEWISTON, Maine -- The Trinity College women's basketball team staved off every second-half rally by Bates College and came away with a 76-71 victory in the quarterfinals of the NESCAC Women's Basketball Championship on Saturday at Alumni Gymnasium.

The Bantams, seeded fifth in the tournament, raise their record to 17-7 and advance to the tournament semifinals for the first time since it began in 2001, while fourth-seeded Bates finishes 16-9 and misses the semifinals for only the second time.

First-year guard Michelle Royals (Torrington, Conn.) led four Bantams in double figures with 23 points from off the bench. Junior Christine Card (Waterbury, Conn.) contributed a double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds. Sophomore Kristen Fahey (Cumberland, R.I.) and junior Claire Arnstein (Hicksville, N.Y.) added 13 and 11 points, respectively.

Senior Val Beckwith (Woburn, Mass.) led the Bobcats with 17 points to go with 8 rebounds and 3 blocked shots. Beckwith finishes her career with 1,470 points, eight shy of Bates' all-time leading scorer, Emily King '00. Junior Lauren Yanofsky (Belmont, Mass.) added 14 points, 8 boards and 3 blocks. First-year Annie Burns (Topsfield, Mass.) scored 11 points to go with a team-high 9 rebounds, and sophomore Jessie Igoe (Lexington, Mass.) added 11 points and 6 boards.

The teams came out of halftime with Trinity on top 42-36, and the Bantams extended the lead to 44-36 on a jumper by Card. But Bates scored seven straight points, four by Yanofsky, to cut the lead to 44-43 with 16:53 to play.

Trinity answered with a 9-2 run, capped by a three from Royals and a steal by junior Jessica Sims (Peabody, Mass.) leading to a jumper by Fahey, prompting a Bates timeout with 13:12 left and Trinity ahead 53-45.

Bates came out of the timeout with a big possession, with three misses all collected by the Bobcats, and eventually Burns canned a three to cut it to 53-48. The shot started an 11-3 Bates run that was capped by another three by Yanofsky which tied the game for the first time since midway through the first half, at 56-56 with 8:55 to play.

Sophomore Molly McGlynn (Sleepy Hollow, N.Y.) hit a foul shot to put Trinity back in the lead, but Burns found Yanofsky for a layup to put the Bobcats in the lead at 58-57. The lead was short-lived, however, as Royals split the Bates defense for a layup and an and-one foul shot.

Burns answered by banking in a short jumper to tie the game at 60-60 with 7:17 to play, then she found Yanofsky for another three to put Bates on top, 63-60, with 6:17 to play. But Trinity responded with three straight hoops in a span of 66 seconds, a pair of layups by Royals and a jumper by sophomore Rebecca Cohn (San Francisco, Calif.) that made it 66-63 Trinity with 5:11 left.

Bates got to the foul line on two straight possessions, and Beckwith and first-year Kristen Finn (Winthrop, Mass.) each hit both foul shots to give the Bobcats their last lead of the game, 67-66, with 4:22 left. Card fouled her own miss with a putback to put Trinity on top for good at 68-67, and another layup by Royals, assisted by Fahey, made it 70-67 with 2:14 left.

Beckwith and Igoe both hit 1 of 2 foul shots in consecutive trips to the line, and Arnstein pushed the Trinity lead to 73-69 by hitting both of hers. After Beckwith stole the ball after a Bates turnover and hit a jumper to make it 73-71 with 1:01 to play, both teams missed the next time down the floor, and Fahey hit two more foul shots and Royals added another in the final 13 seconds to ice the win for the Bantams.

Trinity emerged from a back-and-forth first 10 minutes of the game to pull away for a first-half lead of as many as 10 points. A jumper by Arnstein and a three by junior Tess Donie (Worcester, Mass.) started an 11-2 Trinity run that put the Bantams on top 35-26 with 5:45 left in the period, and a three by Royals with 3:18 to go made it 38-28. Bates closed out the half with a jumper by Burns to make it 42-36 at the break. Card had 10 points and 8 rebounds in the period to lead the Bantams, while Beckwith had 10 points and junior Kellie Goodridge (Merrimack, N.H.) added eight for Bates.

STATS: Trinity 76, Bates 71