WASHINGTON, D.C. (February 22, 2024) - The Susquehanna University women's basketball team's successful season ended Thursday night in an 83-70 loss to the Catholic University Cardinals, who move on to the Landmark Conference Championship to face Scranton on Saturday.

The game started with a back and forth first quarter that saw Susquehanna's Kaitlyn Lynch and Julia Roth match Catholic's Anna Scoblick and Sarah White shot for shot in a quarter that saw seven lead changes and end in a 15-15 tie.  

The second quarter was more of the same with both teams continuing to trade buckets and defensive stops, but the River Hawks were in control for most of the quarter leading 26-21 with 4:25 to go. However, the Cardinals churned out a bit more offense from then on, outscoring Susquehanna 16-7 to take the lead 37-33 going into halftime, a lead that they would never relinquish. 

The third quarter is when Catholic began to pull away from the River Hawks. Roth, Lynch, and Zoie Maffei did their best to keep the game competitive as they scored 15 of Susquehanna's 18 points in the quarter, but the Cardinals as a team shot 11-20 from the field and 3-6 from downtown to lead 62-51 with one quarter to go. 

That hole proved too big to climb out for the River Hawks as they never got closer than seven points the rest of the way. Maffei continued her excellent play with eight points in the fourth, but Catholic's trio of Scoblick, Keegan Douglas, and Carly Mulvaney closed out well down the stretch to seal their trip to the championship game. 

Lynch led the River Hawks in scoring with 17 points in her final game for Susquehanna and Roth joined her in double figures with 13 points along with eight rebounds and four assists. Maffei and Sydney Weyant also scored in double figures off the bench with 14 and 11 points, respectively. The big difference in this game for the River Hawks was the difference in points off turnovers as Catholic won that battle 21-12 off 15 River Hawk turnovers. 

Overall, Susquehanna finished their season with a final record of 18-9 and a 12-6 record in Landmark Conference play, marking the most wins in a season since 1994-95 and most Landmark wins in school annals. It was a successful season all around as they hosted and won their first playoff game under head coach Gabby Holko and will look to make another step forward with much of the same roster returning for next season.