Three years ago, third-seeded Mary Washington visited top-seeded York in the CAC title game and snapped the Spartans' 25-game win streak to win the conference women's basketball championship.  Saturday, the tables will be turned, and it will be second-seeded York at top-seeded and undefeated Mary Washington for all the marbles.

The seventh-ranked Eagles improved to 26-0 by rallying from a halftime deficit to defeat arch-rival Marymount, 64-62, to advance to the CAC Championship game for the seventh time in the last eight years.  UMW is 4-2 in those title game appearances, including the 67-56 decision at YCP in 2009.

The Spartans, ranked sixth in the region, improved to 22-4 Thursday with a 64-51 victory over Salisbury.  It'll be the third time in the last four years that York, the defending CAC champion, will play in the title contest.  YCP downed Wesley in last year's championship game, 70-66.

The Eagles have topped York in both previous meetings this year - 59-42 at YCP on Jan. 7, and 54-48 at UMW on Feb. 11.  Mary Washington has won seven-straight meetings between the teams since the 2009 title game after York swept the season series that year against the Eagles.

At UMW, finishing the regular season with an undefeated 25-0 record was a huge accomplishment for Deena Applebury's Mary Washington Eagles. Thursday night at the William M. Anderson Center, Applebury's squad took the first step in acheiving their next goal of winning the CAC Tournament and earning an automatic bid to the Division III National Tournament by defeating sharp-shooting Marymount 64-62.

The Eagles trailed for most of the first half as they struggled to get anything going offensively against a scrappy Saints team. Marymount led by as many as eight in the first half behind Julie Tomesheski's 9 points and Katelyn Fischer's eight. Fischer finished the game with 25 points to lead all scorers.

Mary Washington came out of the locker room trailing by four and went down by six after a bucket by Tomesheski pushed the score to 28-22. The Eagles took over the game from that point going on a 23-2 run, including a 3-pointer from senior guard Rachel Martin with the score tied at 30 that put the Eagles up for good. The lead ballooned to as many as 13 points for the Eagles in the second half, but they had to hold off a late rally by the Saints to hold on for the victory and advance to the championship game of the CAC Tournament on Saturday.

Senior guard Katie Wimmer led the Eagles with 19 points and four assists, while fellow senior forward Claire Brooks added 10 points off the bench. Junior Carol Dye had six points to go along with six rebounds for Mary Washington, who moves to 26-0 on the season with the victory.  

Marymount's season ends with the loss as they finish with a record of 14-13.

At York, senior April Sparkman tallied a game-high 25 points and nine rebounds for the winners. Sparkman, whose 25 ties a career-high, went 10-for-22 from the field and 4-for-4 from the free throw line to lead York to the semifinal triumph.

The Spartans opened up a huge first half advantage, embarking on a 16-2 run over the contest's first 7:17 as Sparkman pumped in ten of York's first 16 points. Maintaining a steady double-digit advantage through the rest of the opening frame, Sparkman put York up 16 with a layup at the 5:23 mark as York led 30-14. When the Spartan lead crested to a first-half maximum of 22 at 39-17 with 50 seconds remaining, it was Sparkman yet again who provided the bucket. Courtesy of that late layup, the Green and White went into the break owning that same 22-point margin.

The second period began much like the first ended as the Spartans held a lead which fluctuated between 18 and 20 through the first 7:40.  However, at the 11:51 mark Salisbury began to draw dangerously close to the Green and White. Led by Anna Hackett, the Sea Gulls embarked on a 13-2 spurt over a 5:54 span. That stretch cut deep into the Spartan advantage as with 5:57 remaining York led by a mere four a 49-45.

But it would be Sparkman who halted the Sea Gull run, knocking down back-to-back buckets. With 5:43 left, the senior hit a triple from the left corner, then finished off a layup with 4:58 to play to bring the Spartan lead back to nine at 54-45.

The Green and White extended that advantage to double-digits on a Kristen Haley traditional three-point play with 1:25 remaining. Haley's ensuing free throw gave York a ten-point 59-49 lead. The Spartans salted away the victory with a 5-for-7 performance from stripe over the final minute to garner the 64-51 triumph and head to the CAC Tournament title game.

Aside from Sparkman's brilliant showing, Haley posted 15 points while Kelsey Murphy was the third Spartan in double-figures with ten. Point guard Aja Wallpher put together a steady effort with four points, six rebounds, and eight assists.

Salisbury's Hackett led her squad with 13 points on 5-for-13 shooting plus a 3-for-4 performance from the stripe. Nicole Sisco registered 12 points while Cinthia Ruiz totaled 11.