ALLIANCE, Ohio -- No. 6 ranked and top-seeded Mount Union advanced to the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament Championship game after knocking off fourth seeded Capital, 84-78 in the semifinals Thursday at the McPherson Academic and Athletic Complex. 

Senior guard Kori Wiedt (North Olmsted/North Olmsted) scored a season-high 29 points as Mount Union moved to 25-1 overall, extended its school-record win streak to 20 games and home court win streak to 22 games.

Junior point guard Rosa LaMattina (Westlake/Westlake) had 15 points, senior forward Amanda Rose (Green/Green) had 14 and junior guard Tierney Allen (Alliance/Alliance) had 10 as the other double digit scorers for the Purple Raiders.

Jamie Caton came off the bench and had 20 points to lead five in double figures for Capital (18-9).

Mount Union scored the game's first six points before Capital rallied and took an 18-15 lead on a Hilary Kuhns jumper with 12:10 to play in the first half.  The Raiders exploded for a 14-2 surge over the next three minutes with Wiedt scoring 10 points during the run that put Mount Union up 31-20 with 9:28 left in the period.  Mount Union would take a nine-point lead, 48-39 into the lockers.

The Raiders extended the lead to 12 points, 57-45 early in the second half and Capital rallied again as the Crusaders scored nine-straight to get within three - 57-54 on a three-pointer from Shalena Hawkins with 11:37 left.  Wiedt came to the rescue again as she scored four in a 6-2 Mount Union run that pushed the lead back out to eight.

The Crusaders had one more rally left in them as they got to within three again, 79-76 on a three from Cookie Geroski with 37 seconds remaining.  Wiedt hit a free throw to push the lead back to four then four-straight free throws from LaMattina and Allen put the game away.

Mount Union hosts second-seeded Ohio Northern, a 65-52 winner over third-seed Otterbein in the other semifinal, Saturday at 3 pm at The MAAC in Alliance.  The Raiders have won the last two OAC Tournament titles.

Newspaper Box Score

Capital vs Mount Union

02/23/12 7:30 pm at The MAAC - Alliance, Ohio

MOUNT UNION 84, CAPITAL 78

CAPITAL (18-9)

Jamie Caton 8-18 4-4 20; Hilary Kuhns 8-20 0-0 18; Shalena Hawkins 4-5 4-513; Cookie Geroski 4-8 2-3 11; Stacy Timmerman 4-7 2-2 10; Rebekah Will 3-70-0 6; Shelby Sheets 0-1 0-0 0; Maggie Donnellan 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 31-6712-14 78.

MOUNT UNION (25-1)

Kori Wiedt 11-19 3-4 29; Rosa LaMattina 3-6 7-8 15; Amanda Rose 7-11 0-2 14;Tierney Allen 3-6 4-4 10; Erin Schmidt 2-7 2-6 6; Aly Daniel 1-2 1-4 3;Kelly Evans 1-5 0-0 3; Amanda Tamerlano 1-3 0-0 2; Bridget Lyons 1-1 0-0 2; Marybeth Leitch 0-3 0-1 0;Maggie Miller 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 30-63 17-29 84.

Capital.......................   39   39  -   78

Mount Union...................   48   36  -   84

3-point goals--Capital 4-12 (Hilary Kuhns 2-5; Shalena Hawkins 1-1; CookieGeroski 1-2; Maggie Donnellan 0-1; Rebekah Will 0-3), Mount Union 7-17 (KoriWiedt 4-8; Rosa LaMattina 2-3; Kelly Evans 1-4; Erin Schmidt 0-2). Fouledout--Capital-Hilary Kuhns; Shalena Hawkins, Mount Union-None.Rebounds--Capital 39 (Shalena Hawkins 9), Mount Union 37 (Tierney Allen 7).Assists--Capital 16 (Rebekah Will 6), Mount Union 20 (Rosa LaMattina 6).Total fouls--Capital 23, Mount Union 15. Technical fouls--Capital-None,Mount Union-None. A-472