HAMBURG, N.Y.  – The Hilbert College women's basketball team found themselves in a big hole after the first 10-minutes of action today and that 12-point spread on the score board was the difference maker by the final horn.

The Hawks were beaten by Mount Aloysius College (72-56) in the final game of the regular season and after  the loss, Hilbert slipped to 6th place in the final rankings heading into post-season.

The Hawks (11-14, 8-10) are excited to extend their 2016-17 season as they qualified for the AMCC playoffs for only the second time in the program's AMCC era of competition.

Hilbert will travel to #3 Pitt-Bradford Wednesday, February 22 for a 7pm tip in the 1st Round game.  With their victory, the Mounties claimed the 4th seed and will host #5 Penn State Behrend Feb 22 as well. 

#1 La Roche and #2 Medaille earned byes in the 1st Round and advance directly to the Semi-Final round, which will be hosted by La Roche College in Pittsburgh, Pa.  The Redhawks will face the winner of #4/#5 game and the Mavericks will face the winner of the Bradford/Hilbert game Saturday, February 25th. The AMCC Champion, who earns the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament, will be determined on Sunday, February  26th.

Senior forward Shannon Rogers notched 18 points and 11 rebounds as she crashed the boards for four offensive rebounds.  She connected on 6-of-8 from the floor and  foul line to earn her 8th double double of the season.

Senior guards, Kelsi Ebert and Emily Speidel also reach double figures scoring as they contributed 13 and 10 points, respectively.  Ebert added three more steals to her record-setting season pushing her career total to 153.  Speidel is inching towards matching the All Time 3-point FG record of 122 made, as she sits 8-makes away.

Freshman Taylor Corts made her only shot today, from downtown, and went 4-for-4 at the charity stripe to add seven points for the Hawks.

Mount Aloysius' Jessa Wright led all scorers with 23 points, hitting 5-of-8  from deep.

Hilbert started slow and had to play catch up after the first quarter of play.  The Mounties combined a jumper with back-to-back deep balls to edge the Hawks 8-0 before Taylor Corts made both shots at the foul line by 8:09.  Ebert and Speidel found the bottom the net once and Rogers tickled the twin twice, yet Mt. Aloysius built a 21-9 lead by the quarter break.

Rogers got the Hawks within 12 points (26-14) but the Mounties responded with their trade-mark 3-point shot and maintained their double-digit lead through the second period.

Finally in the fourth quarter, it appeared the Hawks would make a comeback run.  Down by 22 points (63-41) at 7:29, Hilbert clawed their way back to a 14-point deficit (67-53) with about 4-minutes remaining.  Rogers tossed in eight of Hilbert's 12 points in that run but with 3:12 to go, the Mountains reached from beyond the arc again to spread the score and stopped Hilbert's momentum.

Hilbert closed the game hitting 37% of their field goal attempts and made only 13-26 free throws.   The Mounties out-rebounded Hilbert by three boards and finished with a 41.1 field goal percentage.

Fans who can't travel to Bradford, Pa for the 1st Round game can stay connected to action via the live stats link.