Box Score LEXINGTON, Ky. - Transylvania women's basketball battled with a tough Manchester team before pulling away in the last four minutes to secure a 10-point victory and a spot in the HCAC Conference Championship.

Junior Nicole Coffman finished the day with 24 points; three more than her HCAC-leading season average, including 9-for-11 from the charity stripe. Sophomore Katelyn Smith finished just behind Coffman with 15, 13 in the second half and four shy of her second best HCAC scoring average. Senior Madisen Webb and junior Alex McKenzie posted double-doubles, each recording 10 rebounds paired with 10 and 13 points, respectively. Sophomore Alex Botkin contributed on the boards grabbing 10 of her own.

The Pioneers started off hot from the field, going 4-of-6, including two Botkin layups to put them up 8-2 at 16:03, their biggest lead of the half.
Transylvania would quickly cool off, missing the next six shots taken from the field, allowing Manchester to climb back to a 1-point lead before McKenzie would hit two free throws to regain the lead at 10-9 with 11:46 left on the clock.

McKenzie would hit two more free throws at the 9:26 mark to make the score 13-12 in favor of the Spartans.

McKenzie's four free throws would contribute the only points in an eight-minute field goal drought that saw the Pioneers shooting drop to 4-for-15 on the afternoon. A Coffman layup at 7:51 would end the drought and fix the score at 15-14, Manchester.

Just a minute later, Coffman would follow up with the Pioneers first converted 3-pointer to make the score 17-15. Smith would hit a mid range jumper from the left corner to extend the lead to four before Manchester would get back to back field goals, tying the game at 19 with five left to play.

Manchester would hit a three to regain the lead, but only for 15 seconds before Webb would step up from the top of the key and hit a three of her own knotting it up at 22.

The Pioneers would get two more points from Webb on a layup before McKenzie would get two more free throws to complete her perfect 6-for-6 for the first half.

Manchester would finish the half on Transylvania turnover plagued 12-4 run to take a 4-point lead into the locker room. 34-30.

The Pioneers would come out strong to tie the game through six combined points through Smith and Coffman jumpers, and a converted old fashioned 3-point play from Webb, tying the game at 39 with 16:28 left. Freshman Jordin Fender would follow up with a layup to give Transy it's first lead of the second half.

Manchester would regain the lead off of a long 3-pointer with 15 minutes left to play, but Transylvania would quickly retaliate through the dynamic, Smith and Coffman duo.

Smith would get the Pioneers next three field goals paired with two Coffman free throws to give them a six point lead at 49-43 with 10:15 to finish.

Manchester would cut the lead to four with a long jumper just before Botkin would hit a key jumper to push the lead back to six with eight minutes to go.

The Spartans would threaten only one final time by following the Botkin jumper with 3-pointer from the right wing. Transy would counter with a 9-3 run bringing the game to 59-50 with five minutes remaining.

Manchester would fight back to come as close as 4 with 1:43 remaining, but the Pioneers would remain calm and collected and close the game out on an 8-2 run to end the game at 62-72 and secure a spot in the HCAC championship game.

The Pioneers displayed why they rank tenth in the nation as a team in free throw percentage, shooting 20-24 from the line, good for 83.3 percent. Transylvania shoots 76.4 percent as a team on the season, 2.6 percentage points below the national leader, Oberlin.

Transylvania didn't quite reach its seasonal points per game average of 85.1, which sits them as the seventh highest scoring team in the nation.
Manchester matched Transylvania's rebounding effort, each team grabbing 43 total boards. Transy shot 42.4 percent on the day going 25-for-59, and dominated the paint with 28 points to the Spartan's 14.

The Pioneers will face Hanover on Sunday at 2 p.m. to compete for the Heartland Conference Championship title.