Largely untested all season, the No. 1 Gannon Lady Knights stared their first defeat of the season straight in the eyes for nearly 30 minutes in Monday night's NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional Championship.

Thanks to its hounding defense, the Millersville women's basketball team traded blows with the Lady Knights before falling 65-48 on Gannon's home court at the Hammermill Center in Erie.

Gannon (36-0), the tournament's number one seed, advanced to face Tusculum, the Southeast Region Champion, March 23 in St. Joseph's, Mo., as part of the NCAA Division II Elite Eight.

Millersville ended its season at 25-6, tied for the most wins in school history, when inside-out basketball, depth, rebounding and foul trouble all took a toll over the game's final 10 minutes.

Trailing 43-37, the Lady Knights ripped off 18 of the next 23 points to open a 19-point lead. All the Marauders could do was watch as Dominique Stroman, Aiesha Bellamy, and Mashira Newman each took turns sitting on the bench with four fouls.

Newman, the program's all-time freshman steals leader, fouled out in the midst of the Gannon run with 6:36 remaining.

"When we started to get in foul trouble, we played with some frustration and got a little bit out of our game. It was a tough situation though, because it broke apart our flow," noted Marauders head coach Mary Fleig.

The size and strength of 6-feet-2 Brittany Tabron and 6-0 Kim Vargas wore down MU as the duo combined for 31 rebounds, three less than the Marauders had all night. Tabron, who was named Atlantic Regional Most Valuable Player, registered a double-double by scoring 13 points and tying a career-high with 17 rebounds.

The offensive surprise of the night went to Tiffany Crocker, however. Crocker, averaging 7.6 points per game coming into the Atlantic Regional Final, netted a team-high 20 to pace Gannon.

Crocker helped pick up Carrie Nolan, who was held well below her 13 points per game average. Nolan had just five points on 1-of-10 shooting.

MU did everything it could early on to silence a pro-Gannon crowd of 2,800. Jenna Craig buried back-to-back jumpers to give MU a 4-3 lead, and from there the Marauders went toe-to-toe with the Lady Knights.

Aurielle Mosley's turnaround basket in the paint with 11:04 to play in the opening half tied the game at 13 and on the next Millersville possession Ashley Moyer banged home a 3-pointer from the left wing to put the visitors ahead 16-13.

MU would not trail again until the 6:35 mark. Kristina Freeman, Gannon's leading scorer, laid one up for a 20-18 lead, but MU had the answer once again with an Aiesha Bellamy bucket. Freeman, who came in averaging nearly 14 points per game, was quiet over the first 20 minutes with just four points.

Craig, who was in rhythm offensively, hit a 3-ball to propel MU back in front 23-20, but the Lady Knights responded with a half-ending 11-3 run to take a 31-26 lead.

Raquel Green, who had a one-point first half, scored six right out of the break to cut the Gannon advantage to a pair. Mashira Newman gave Millersville its final lead of the evening when she hit a trey from the left corner to make it 35-34.

Millersville was led by Moyer's 12 points. The senior guard finished her career with 156 triples, second-best all-time to just Sara Burcin's 248.

Fleig, sitting seven wins away from 500 for her career, couldn't have been more pleased with the way her team fought.

"The loss in the first round of the PSAC Tournament was tough, but I think it gave us a chance to get re-charged," Fleig said. "We had our opportunity and this whole run, including the two wins at California (Pa.) were just so, so special."

"All of my seniors came in from different situations and it was great to watch them grow. We meshed as a team on and off the court and a team with this kind of chemistry was a fun bunch to coach," Fleig added.