The No. 3 seeded Berkeley College women's basketball team defeated the No. 2 seeded Huskies of Word of Life 92-65 in the Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference semifinals on Saturday, before falling in the tournamen's title game earlier today to No. 1 seeded Villa Maria, 70-58. 

 

All games took place at Five Towns College in Dix Hills, NY. With the 1-1 output, the Knights finalized their 2022-2023 season at 5-23, while Word of Life ended their campaign with a mark of 7-13. Villa Maria improved to 12-7 with Sunday's victory, capturing the HVIAC crown in just their first year in the conference. They'll now await word on a potential at-large bid to the USCAA Women's Basketball Division II National Tournament, which starts two weeks from today.

 

Earlier in the season, when Berkeley lost to Word of Life 44-40, the Knights didn't have Amal Mahmoud. This time, they did, and Mahmoud was basically unstoppable the entire afternoon, connecting on 21 of her 31 attempts from the floor, and eight of her 11 shots from the stripe, to finish with a game-high 50 points. Her 18 boards also led all players, as did her five assists and four steals. It was an incredible performance from Mahmoud, as she helped pace Berkeley to its third consecutive appearance in the HVIAC title game. In addition, Beulah Dixon Blake scored 15 points, and Zanya Henderson posted a double-double with 13 points, 10 rebounds, a game-high four blocks, two dimes, and two steals.

 

Despite the loss for the Huskies, Word of Life was led by Kayli Hayden, as she scored a team-high 24 points off of the bench (10-17 FG, 4-6 FT). She also snatched five rebounds and swiped three steals, as well. MJ Buck connected on nine of her 16 attempts from the floor, finishing with 21 points and three steals, and Emma Wilkerson finalized her afternoon with eight points and nine rebounds. 

 

Berkeley's 92 points were the team's most since back on February 15, 2020, when the Knights netted 97 points against Vaughn College in the semifinals of the 2019-2020 HVIAC Tournament.

 

In what was a very competitive game for three quarters, Mahmoud's jump shot with 7:25 left in the opening period put the Knights ahead for good (8-6). Berkeley never trailed after that, despite Word of Life putting together several runs, and making things difficult for the Knights. Berkeley held a 21-9 lead with 3:21 left in the quarter, but a 10-0 Huskies run over a span of 2:38 pulled Word of Life to within two points (21-19) with 43 ticks left in quarter number one. A converted Mahmoud jump shot 14 seconds later gave the Knights a 23-19 edge, and that would be the final bucket of the first quarter. 

 

Berkeley College scored 22 of the first 34 points of the second quarter to take a 14-point lead, 45-31. The Knights looked poised to start running away with the game, but Word of Life scored four unanswered points inside the final minute of the half to pull to within 10 (45-35) as times expired on the opening half.

 

The Knights took their biggest lead of the game, a 15-point edge (54-39), when Dixon connected on a three-point basket. Word of Life refused to quit, going on a 14-4 run to slice Berkeley's advantage to five at 58-53. Mahmoud, who was stellar in helping the Knights answer every run the Huskies had, then scored six straight points of her own to put Berkeley back ahead 64-53. Later, Mahmoud sank a buzzer-beating shot to put the Knights up 68-57 after 30 minutes of action.

 

In the fourth quarter, it was all Berkeley College, as the Knights outscored the No. 2 seeded Huskies 24-8 over the final 10 minutes to account for Berkeley's 27-point victory (92-65).

 

For the game, the Knights connected on 46.9 percent of their attempts from the floor (38-81), while Word of Life earned a 38.2 percent conversion rate (26-68). Berkeley dominated the glass, snatching 52 rebounds compared to 36 for the Huskies, and the Knights also registered 11 assists, while Word of Life only had three. The Huskies held a slim 46-44 edge in points scored in the paint, and Word of Life won the turnover battle, committing 19, while Berkeley had 22. 

 

In the Knights' loss to Villa Maria, Mahmoud put forth one final stellar effort to cap her Berkeley career, as she scored a game-high 22 points, connecting on nine of her 17 attempts from the floor. She also snatched 10 rebounds and swiped a game-high seven steals. Henderson posted a double-double with 13 points, a game-high 14 rebounds, and three steals, and Shania Smith contributed nine points.

 

For the Vikings, Mia McCarthy netted a team-high 19 points while dishing four assists and tallying three steals, and Autumn Adams-Edwards scored 13 points, collected three boards, and picked up a pair of assists. Finally, it was Maria Falanga putting together a fine all-around game, scoring 12 points, snatching seven boards, dropping a game-high seven dimes, and adding three steals.

 

Villa Maria raced out to an early 8-2 advantage in the opening 2:40, before Berkeley put together a 10-0 run over the ensuing 4:56 to take a 12-8 lead. Mahmoud accounted for half of the Knights' points during that spurt. The Knights mainted that four point edge (14-10) until Villa Maria went on a 7-0 run in the final 1:49 of the quarter to take a 17-14 advantage after 10 minutes of action.

 

Berkeley scored the first bucket of the second quarter, but Villa Maria outscored the Knights 17-9 for the remainder of the period. After leading by as many as 11 points in the second quarter, the No. 1 seeded Vikings took a 34-25 edge into the locker room at halftime.

 

The Vikings took their biggest lead of the game, 40-27, with 7:35 left in the third quarter. Berkeley kept things managable, trailing by just nine, 47-38, in the latter stages of the third quarter, until Falanga knocked down a huge trifecta with 28 ticks left in the period to put her team up 50-38. That score would hold steady as the buzzer sounded on the quarter.

 

In the fourth, Villa Maria scored the first six points, before storming ahead to snatch a 63-41 lead. That run, extending back to the third quarter, was 16-3 in favor of the Vikings. Berkeley outscored Villa Maria 17-7 the rest of the way, but that late surge wasn't enough, as the Vikings held on for a 12-point victory. When it was all said and done, Villa Maria held Berkeley to just 58 points just 24 hours after the Knights scored a season-high 92 against Word of Life.

 

Neither team shot the lights out, as the Vikings converted on 37.8 percent of their attempts from the floor (28-74), and Berkeley converted on 33.3 percent of its shots (22-66). Berkeley lost the game despite dominating on the glass, as the Knights snatched 53 rebounds compared to Villa Maria's 41. The Vikings did win the turnover battle, committing 27 compared to Berkeley's 35.