SIOUX CENTER, Iowa – The University of St. Francis women's basketball team took a step in the championship direction late Friday night when the Fighting Saints posted their first victory of the NAIA National Tournament Opening Round, knocking off No. 3-seeded Rocky Mountain College (Mont.) 89-79 in the semifinal round of the four-team Sioux Center Bracket.  The win was the third for the Saints this postseason and 25th overall on the year.

Head coach John McGinty's club (25-7) went to its same recipe for success on Friday, jumping on top early and never relinquishing the lead.  Tied at 10 all in the opening quarter, the No. 2-seeded Saints ended the frame with a five-point lead (25-20) before going on a 17-8 run in the first six minutes of the second quarter.  That enabled USF to take its largest lead of the half at 14 points before surviving a late charge from the Battlin' Bears down the stretch.

A quintet of three-pointers as part of six baskets in eight attempts sparked the second-quarter scoring surge.  Tykara Harrison and Le'lani Harris started it with back-to-back treys before Coryn Fromm hit the third one just moments after an Abby Shepard layup.  Shepard added a long-range shot of her own on the Saints' next possession and Harris capped off the run with a final trey at the 4:17 mark.

The end numbers during the stretch saw the Saints score the six field goals in eight attempts, while Rocky Mountain (20-11) went 3-for-9 with four turnovers in falling behind 42-28. The latter got that deficit down to seven points by halftime, resulting in a 45-38 St. Francis lead at the break.

Not to rest on its first-half laurels, St. Francis extended its lead as high as 17 points three separate times in the third quarter, the last time coming at 69-52 with 1:45 remaining.  A 14-4 push, however, got the deficit back down to single digits (73-66) for Rocky Mountain with 8:17 still remaining in the contest.

Solid shooting down the stretch, including after the Battlin' Bears made it an 84-75 game with 2:42 left, sealed the Saints' Opening Round victory. USF hit six of its final nine attempts (66.7 pct.) after missing three of its previous four, enabling Rocky Mountain to again get the deficit below ten points.

St. Francis finished the game shooting 48.4 percent from the field (30-of-62), keyed by matching 8-of-16 first- and third-quarter marks (50.0), which included eight treys in 15 attempts. On the opposite end of the court, the Saints held Rocky Mountain to 43.1 percent shooting (25-of-58) on the evening.

Three of USF's five starters accounted for 56 of the team's 89 points topped by Harris' career-high 31 markers on 12-of-23 accuracy from the field.  Harrison followed with her 27th double-digit scoring effort of the season – eighth in a row - with her 13 points and game-high seven assists.

Symone Harrell authored a 12-point night, while leading all rebounders with seven boards, and Shepard came off the bench to add 14 points to the scoreboard with four long-range shots.

Rocky Mountain was led in scoring by Paige Wasson, who sank 20 points, 18 of which came from beyond the arc.

Click HERE for Game Highlights.

Up Next
The Saints meet NAIA No. 1-ranked Dordt University (30-2) on the latter's home court for the Opening Round championship game on Saturday at 5:30 pm. The winner heads to Sioux City next weekend for the NAIA National Championship Final Site.

You can keep up with all things USF on X @USFSaints.