SCRANTON, Pa. -- The undefeated and No. 2 nationally ranked University of Scranton Royals used a 12-0 first quarter run to take command on Friday, defeating No. 12 Bates women's basketball by a count of 76-59 in the "Sweet 16" of the NCAA Division III Championship tournament. 

Bates (26-4) concludes a record-breaking campaign with a second NESCAC title, a fourth bid to the NCAA Sweet 16, and the most wins in program history. 

Senior captain Elsa Daulerio (Harpswell, Maine) finished her career with a strong performance, tallying a team-high 18 points on 7-10 shooting. Daulerio's 1,375 career points are the sixth-most in Bates women's basketball history. 

Fellow seniors Sophie Spolter (Blacklick, Ohio) and co-captain Ava James (Bethesda, Md.) added 16 and 10 points respectively in their final games as Bobcats. Junior Mya Hicks (Ann Arbor, Mich.) joined them in double figures with 10 points, hitting 3-4 from three-point range. 

Rebounding proved to be the big difference in Friday's contest as the Royals (30-0) out-rebounded Bates 43-28. As a result, Scranton netted 16 second chance points to just three for the Bobcats. The Royals were able to get a lot of their points from up close, with 40 points in the paint to 12 for Bates. Katie Gorski led all players with 23 points on 10-14 shooting, blocking two shots and recording a pair of steals. Kaci Kranson finished with a double-double, tallying 17 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. Meghan Lamanna added 13 points, six rebounds, and three assists while Elizabeth Bennett chipped in 10 points off the bench.

The Royals scored the first four points of the game on free throws before Daulerio hit a jumper to cut the deficit to 4-2 with 7:43 left in the first quarter. But then Scranton went on their 14-0 run, going up 16-2 on a pair of Jenna Sloan free throws with 5:08 remaining. 

Bates found themselves down 27-8 when the first quarter concluded. The Bobcats outscored Scranton 51-49 over the final three quarters but never seriously threatened in the contest. The closest they got the rest of the way was to within 15 points on a Daulerio jumper with 5:33 left in the third quarter. The Royals led by as many as 27 points before the Bobcats ended the game on a 10-0 run.

With the exception of rebounding, the game was fairly even statistically, with Bates shooting .385 from the floor and Scranton finishing at .438. The Bobcats shot better from three-point range, hitting 6-17 from distance to 5-16 for the hosts. Turnovers were pretty even as well, with the Bobcats committing 11 turnovers to 10 for Scranton. The Royals finished with 16 points off turnovers while Bates finished with 15. Both teams were strong at the line, with Bates hitting 13-16 from the stripe and Scranton 15-19.

The Royals advance to play No. 20 Concordia-Moorhead in the Elite 8 this Saturday at 7 p.m.