The Army West Point women's basketball team (23-6, 14-4) controlled the second half to secure a 55-40 victory over the Lafayette Leopards (10-21, 6-13) on March 10 at Christl Arena in the quarterfinal round of the Patriot League Championships.

Army struggled to shoot mightily in the first half but still managed to hold a two-point at halftime.
 
In the second half, Army was led by the Patriot League all-conference trio of Reese Ericson, Trinity Hardy and Fiona Hastick who combined to score 28 of Army's 38 second-half points to secure a 15-point victory. Army outscored Lafayette by 13 and improved to shoot 44% in the second half to control the game.
 
The 22-point turnaround provided Army a ticket to the Patriot League semifinals for the second time in three years as they will host Bucknell with a trip to the title game on the line on Thursday, March 13 at Christl Arena with tip-off set for 6 p.m.
 
The Patriot League's No. 2 seed team began its tournament run ice cold. The Black Knights began the game 1-for-17 from the field shooting, trailing Lafayette by a score of 8-2 before a Ericson three-pointer with 1:37 to go in the opening quarter broke the scoring draught and provided some life into the Army bench.
 
Soleil Montrose provided a huge spark off the bench in the second quarter converting back-to-back and-ones on driving layups, scoring a quick eight points off the bench.

Army would tie the game for the first time at 17-17 after a Camryn Tade layup in the second quarter. A Hardy three-pointer gave Army its first lead of the game as the second quarter was winding down.
 
Army took a 21-19 lead into the locker room.
 
The story of the game was Army's resilience on the offensive glass, grabbing 23 offensive rebounds. Kya Smith totaled 10 rebounds, five of which came on the offensive side. Army's 23 boards are its most this year and the most since grabbing 32 vs. Rider in 2021.
 
In the third quarter, Ericson made an impressive step-back three-pointer that extended the lead to nine points. Army would outscore the Leopards by 10 in the quarter, entering the fourth leading 41-29. Hastick scored seven of her 12 points in the third, scoring all 12 of her points in the second half of action.
 
In the fourth, Ericson continued to score, scoring seven of her 13 points, as Army firmly stayed out front to secure the 15-point victory.
 
Ericson led the way with 13 points followed by Hastick with 12.
 
Ericson shot 3-for-8 from three-point distance, giving her 78 made threes on the season, four away from third place on the Army single-season made three-pointers list. Army legend Kelsey Minato holds spots one through three.
 
Army and Bucknell meet in the Patriot League Semifinals on Thursday night. The first postseason meeting between the two since March 2020.
  
Thursday night's semifinal game at home will be Army's first since 2016. Army lost to Boston University in 2023 in the semifinal in an overtime thriller in Boston.
 
Army has won the Patriot League three times before, most recently in 2016.