Emily Puskarich set a Mountain East Conference tournament record by making eight 3-pointers as she helped lead No. 5 Fairmont State into the semifinals with a 75-59 victory over No. 4 Notre Dame College Thursday night at the Charleston Civic Center.
The senior Wheeling native set the record by halftime, knocking down seven shots from beyond the arc in the first half en route to a game-high 26 points as the Falcons set the tone right away in the victory.
"I was just shooting with confidence," Puskarich said. "My teammates just kept telling me to shoot it, so I did. They found me when I was open and we just played really, really well tonight."
While Fairmont State (18-11, 14-8 MEC) used its hot shooting and the stellar play of Puskarich and Makenzie White to jump out in front in the first half, it used its defense to wreak havoc on Notre Dame (15-12, 14-9) much of the game. It forced NDC into 22 turnovers, converting those into 28 points at the other end of the floor.
Notre Dame was able to score just nine points in the third quarter, where Fairmont State built its largest lead of the game at 25 points.
"We were dialed in tonight, we were connected tonight and I thought we played extremely hard," Fairmont State coach Steve McDonald said. "When we do those three things, we're very confident that we'll play well and that's what happened tonight."
Things were able to get interesting in the fourth quarter as Notre Dame started the final 10 minutes on a 12-0 run and held Fairmont State scoreless until there was 4:14 to play. But after the FSU lead got down to 10, the Falcons picked it up and closed the game strong after a Puskarich 3-pointer broke a drought of eight consecutive misses.
White finished the game with 18 points, seven rebounds, eight assists and seven steals in the win for Fairmont State. Deidra Combs and Amanda Ruffner also joined White and Puskarich in double figures with 15 and 11 points, respectively.
Kim Cook led Notre Dame with 16 points and Seina Adachi added 10 in the loss. Jessie Stout and Kelsey Miller both pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds.