ERIE, Pa. – The Gannon women's basketball team used a second-half defensive lockdown to pull away from Edinboro and earn its fourth straight trip to the PSAC semifinals.

After leading by two points at halftime, the No. 1-seeded Golden Knights limited the No. 4-seeded Fighting Scots to 17 second-half points and rolled to a 70-42 victory in the PSAC quarterfinals at Hagerty Family Events Center.

Gannon, which is ranked No. 3 and No. 4 in Division II in the two national polls, improved to 30-2 on the season. Coach Cleve Wright's team became only the third squad in program history to reach 30 wins. The Golden Knights also learned before the game that they remained the No. 1-ranked team in the Atlantic Region, which is important for NCAA Tournament seeding.

GU will travel to Lock Haven for the PSAC Final Four on Saturday, when the Knights will take on West Chester, the No. 2 seed from the East, in a 1 p.m. game. West Chester (24-5) beat Kutztown 69-42 on Wednesday to advance to the semifinals. Gannon faced West Chester on Dec. 19 and defeated the Golden Rams 86-71 in the final game before the Highmark Events Center closed for renovations.

No. 1 Eastern seed Lock Haven will host No. 3 Western seed California in the second game on Saturday.

Edinboro closed the season with a 17-12 record.

 
Tale of two halves:

The Fighting Scots entered the evening determined to upset the Knights. After one quarter, the game was tied at 16-16. Edinboro remained close in the second quarter as Gannon held a slim 27-25 edge going into halftime.

As Gannon has done so many times this season, it used stifling defense and a couple of offensive runs to take control of the game.

The Golden Knights limited the Scots eight points in the third quarter and nine points in the fourth while holding Edinboro to just 5-of-26 shooting (19.2 percent) in the second half.

Meanwhile, Gannon went on a couple of runs  as the Knights opened the half with a 10-3 streak to take a 37-28 lead. After Edinboro scored a couple of buckets, Gannon scored 12 consecutive points to take a commanding 51-32 lead. The Golden Knights were never seriously challenged after that.
 

By the numbers:

• Gannon had four players in double figures as sophomore guard Bri Claxon (South Webster, Ohio/South Webster) led the way with 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field. She keyed the second-half surge with a series of nifty fastbreak finishes and gliding pull-up jumpers.
• Freshman guard Kate Ratliff (Canal Winchester, Ohio/Canal Winchester) was next with 13 points as she drained a trio of 3-pointers.
• Senior post player Sam Pirosko continued her fine season with 11 points as she reached double digits for the 65th consecutive game. She narrowly missed a double-double with nine rebounds.
• Senior post McKel Nation (Lebanon, Ohio/Springboro) turned in a strong start, scoring nine of her 10 points in the first quarter.
• Gannon shot 9-of-21 from 3-point range for 42.9 percent.
• This year's Gannon team trails only the 37-1 team from 2009-10 and the 31-5 team from 2012-13 in the wins column.