The last game on the evening's slate pitted the #2 BMCC Panthers against the #3 Red Hawks of Laguardia Community College. Scoring was hard to come by as both teams brought the intensity on defense with a spot in the finals on the line. At the end of the day, it was the Panthers of BMCC who would emerge victorious and advance to the championship game by the score of 60-54.

The first quarter was a defensive battle as both teams had trouble getting shots to fall. BMCC did a good job of blocking shots and forcing turnovers, but simply couldn't capitalize on the offensive end as Laguardia's defense held strong.The Panthers weren't helped by their woes at the free throw line either, and they found themselves down 12-6 with two minutes to go in the first quarter. A three pointer by Natalija Dubrinova helped spark some offense for BMCC though and the Panthers closed the gap as the first came to a close. At the end of one, the score was 13-11 in favor of Laguardia.

As the second quarter got underway, both teams were looking to generate some consistent offense and pull away. With 6 minutes left in the half though, this low scoring affair looked as though it was going to stay that way. The teams traded occasional baskets for the remainder of the quarter, but this game was clearly going to come down to which team could break out of its shooting slump first. The Red Hawks shot just 23.7% from the field and went 2-9 from the charity stripe.  At the half, the score was all tied at 23.

"We are a bunch of freshman. I think I built this game up a little too much for them," said BMCC Head Coach Ben Newberg when asked about his team's offensive struggles in the first half. "At halftime I just told them to have fun, take good shots, and they would start falling."

BMCC's offense came out of the locker room with a fire lit beneath them, scoring on their first five possessions of the second half. The 9-0 run gave the Panthers their first lead of the game and ignited a home crowd that had been begging for a reason to get loud all game.

With BMCC finding their groove, the Red Hawks would have to get shots to start falling in a hurry. Laguardia found a way to generate some offense as the quarter went on. They traded baskets with the Panthers, but continued struggles from the free throw line hindered their ability to cut into the Panthers' lead. At the end of three, BMCC was up 44-35.

The fourth quarter got underway with the Panthers hoping to hold a lead on their home floor and advance to the championship game. They made their run in the third quarter and they had their lead. It was time for that relentless defense that we had seen all game to step up one more time. The Red Hawks would not go quietly though, seemingly answering every clutch bucket by Dubrinova and Co. with one of their own.

With just 57 seconds left to play we had a 5 point game on our hands and it was time for Laguardia to start fouling in hopes of a comeback. The Panthers would have to close this game out at the free throw line that they had struggled so mightily from all game long. BMCC guard Nikola Zilakova got fouled and knocked down a pair of clutch free throws. Laguardia scored and fouled Zilakova again. The Panthers guard knocked down just one of her two tries this time and left the door open for the Red Hawks. A Laguardia three pointer fell and just like that it was a 55-52 game. Unfortunately for the Red Hawks, this was as close as they would get. The Panthers continued to hit clutch free throws as they closed out this hard fought semi-final matchup by the score of 60-54.

BMCC was led by freshman forward Natalija Dubrovina who scored a game high 18 points. Laguardia finished the game with four players scoring in double figures, but they were led by Janae Gibson and Briana Johnson who had 16 and 15 points respectively.

With the win the BMCC Panthers advance to the finals on Friday at 6:00pm on their home court at Borough of Manhattan Community College. Waiting for them will be the top-seeded Hostos Caimans who are coming off of a dominant semi-final performance. For a full livestream of the men's and women's tournament final, click here.