CASTINE, Maine -- Maine Maritime Academy held off a late University of Maine at Farmington charge to secure a 59-53 win over the Beavers in the North Atlantic Conference women's basketball quarterfinals Tuesday at Margaret Chase Smith Gymnasium. The Mariners (17-9) advanced to Friday's semifinals opposite Colby-Sawyer at Castleton.

Cheyenne Malloy paced Maine Maritime with 13 points, including a perfect 7 of 7 from the line. Ashley Shine pumped in 10 and Alex Winchester added eight for the Mariners. Leah Jackson grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds and Hannah Lyons dished out a game-best six assists.

Elizabeth Ferry netted a game-high 14 points for the Beavers (9-17) and Meghan Smith chipped in 13. Lindsay Ranquist pulled down 11 boards.

Maine Maritime jumped out to an early 8-2 lead after a Shine trey with 17:43 left in the opening half. UMaine-Farmington closed the gap with a 5-1 run, capped by a pair of Ranquist free throws, that made it 9-7 five minutes into the game. A jumper by Jackson and three from Mackenzie Vosburgh gave the Mariners a 14-7 advantage with 14:02 left before the break.

Bridget Humphrey's 3-pointer cut the UMF deficit to three, 17-14, before the Mariners took their largest lead after a three from Shine made it 22-14 with 8:26 on the clock.  A pair of Malloy free throws put Maine Maritime ahead 28-22 with 53 seconds left in the first half, but the Beavers closed the half with a 5-0 scoring run -- two by Elizabeth Ferry and a three from Holly Oliver, to make it 28-27 at the break.

The Beavers took their second lead of the game when they opened the second half with a Smith layup to make it 29-28. Consecutive Winchester threes put the Mariners ahead 42-33 with 9:56 left in the game. Maine Maritime took its largest lead, 46-35, after Jillian Perron's layup at 7:41.

A pair of Ranquist free throws put UMF within three, 48-45, at 3:44 and her layup at 1:46 made it 53-51. Kari Jones connected on a pair of free throws to give the Mariners a five-point cushion, 56-51, before Smith made it 56-53 on a layup with 10 seconds left.

Malloy iced the game with two free throws with under 10 seconds left and Bekah Campbell added a free throw with one second left in the game.

-30-