Championship Central

OLD WESTBURY, N.Y. - Senior guard Frankie Pearson registered a game- and career-high 27 points Saturday afternoon at Clark Athletic Center, lifting third-seeded The Sage Colleges to its second Skyline Conference Women's Basketball championship with a 72-66 triumph over top-seeded host SUNY Old Westbury in a rematch of the 2016 edition of the final.

Under the direction of third-year head coach Allison Coleman, the Gators (20-8), who last hoisted the conference hardware back in 2014, receive the Skyline's automatic bid to the 2017 NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship; the field will be announced via a selection show at ncaa.com on Monday (Feb. 27) at 2:30 p.m.

Sage, who led the Panthers (23-4) by as many as 17 midway through the second period, had to overcome a furious comeback by the hosts -- a 9-0 spurt to open the fourth period gave OW a 52-49 edge with less than seven minutes remaining. The teams exchanged baskets over the next several minutes, before Gators sophomore guard Emily Parslow (14 pts., career-best 9 asst.) gave the visitors the lead for good on a pair from the charity stripe with 61 seconds to go.

Pearson extended the lead to three on a fastbreak lay-in with 45 seconds to go, before Parslow and Macie Holmes added one free throw apiece to push the Sage advantage to 68-63 with 20 ticks on the clock. Old Westbury senior Jasmine Robinson (15 pts., 4 asst.) banked home a trifecta from the top of the arc after a timeout to pull the Panthers to within two with 12 seconds to go, before Pearson and Holmes canned a pair of freebies each to seal the victory.

Kaitlyn Bowman added 10 points, eight caroms and four steals in the victory for Sage, while freshman Gessica Patregnani added 10 points off the bench on 4-for-7 shooting.

Six players scored eight-plus points for Old Westbury, including an 11-point effort on 5-for-9 shooting by sophomore Monique Joseph.