NORTHFIELD, Vt. – The Norwich University women's basketball team held the lead after the first quarter, but the University of St. Joseph was able to withstand the defensive pressure on their way to a 65-45 win in Andrews Hall Saturday afternoon.

Prior to the contest the Norwich women's basketball team celebrated their two seniors and their contributions to the program.  Both Hattie Moriarty (Stowe, Vt.) and Hannah Stitely (Westminster, Md.) were honored in the pregame ceremony, as well as a celebration of longtime Norwich University Director of Athletics Tony Mariano who will be retiring at the end of May.

Haley Brewster (Virginia Beach, Va.) led the Cadets with 20 points knocking down 50 percent of her attempts from the field and nine rebounds and MacKenzie Moore (Georgia, Vt.) scored eight points off the bench.

Brewster scored the first three points for Norwich to take a 3-2 advantage, before Amanda Fudge and Jordan Ouellette combined for the following five points to take a 7-3 lead. USJ held a 9-5 advantage with 1:55 remaining in the first quarter, before Brewster knocked down a three-pointer and was followed by Moore knocking down a pair of shots from the line, taking a 10-9 lead.

The Blue Jays took back the lead with 1:20 remaining, but Moore converted on her layup attempts with 38 seconds remaining in the opening quarter, to give the Cadets a 12-11 advantage after the first frame.

Norwich built an eight-point lead before the Blue Jays 11 straight points to close out the second half, going into the break with a 24-21 lead.

Norwich trailed by 13-points with 2:23 remaining in the third quarter, but the Cadets upped the defensive pressure eight-straight points cutting the lead to five, before Oullette finished on a layup with one tick left on the clock, for a 41-34 advantage for the Blue Jays.

USJ outscored the Norwich 24-11 in the fourth quarter as they closed out the victory.

Norwich (9-14, 7-9 GNAC) will be the No. 8 seed in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Tournament, hosting a GNAC First Round matchup on Tuesday, Feb. 22 at 5 pm against No. 9 seed Lasell. This is the first time that the Norwich women's basketball team has hosted a postseason game in Andrews Hall since the 2016-17 season when they hosted Suffolk in the GNAC Quarterfinals.