In Ray Oosting Gymnasium Transy fans were outnumbered 10-1, but Transy Women's Basketball silenced the deafening Smith crowd with their 76-65 Final Four win to punch their ticket to Dallas for the NCAA DIII National Championship in two weeks. 

The Pioneers took a 6-0 start over the Smith College Pioneers. While they battled back for most of the first quarter a big time block came from Sydney Wright with 55.1 left and senior first-team all-American Maddie Kellione scored the last two points of the quarter with the momentum though they trailed by three. Kellione was 3-3 on field goals in the first. 

As the second quarter began, senior Dasia Thornton pulled the Pioneers within one with free throws. She added a nice and-one at 6:34, then gave the Pioneers the 28-27 lead at 3:09 remaining. Kellione's three-pointer at just over 2:00 helped push the lead to 31-29. A strong block by Thornton at 2:00 set up an easy run to a layup for Maddie Kellione. Then Emilie Teall came up big with a three at one minute remaining and nailed one more bucket at the buzzer to put Transy up 36-31 going into halftime. 

Taking the lead into the third quarter, the Pioneers looked locked in and started expanding their lead as time went on. At 6:08, Kellione saved a ball from going out of bounds, tossing to Kennedi Stacy, allowing for Thornton to help out with a second-chance basket to put the Pioneers up 45-37. Kellione expanded the lead to 10 with nice and-one play at 5:26. With 1:08 remaining Transy was up 53-41, and just as the time ran out, Kellione added another short jumper to end the third 57-42. 

As the fourth quarter went, Smith began to surge in an attempt to make a comeback, but the Pioneers refused to let them gain much momentum. Just as the Smith Pioneers started to gain, Transy did what they have shown they can do all year: handle the big moments and knock down routine shots. With each shot Transy made, the gym silenced except for the group of Transy fans directly behind the bench echoing off the walls. 

Kellione led the Pioneers with 24 points, shooting 67% from three, four assists, and went 4-5 from the free throw line during her 39 minutes of play. Thornton followed with 18 points and 11 boards for the double-double, and went 6-9 from the line. Laken Ball added her own 13 points and three rebounds. Kennedi Stacy scored nine points, added three rebounds, and three assists. Wright also joined in with seven points, four rebounds, and three assists. Emilie Teall played a solid 20 minutes, coming in clutch with her five points at key moments. 

The NCAA DIII National Championship will be played in Dallas along with DI and DII in celebration of Title IX's 50th Anniversary. 

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