ORANGEBURG, N.Y. – Philadelphia University senior forward Mary Newell (Lansdale, Pa./Villa Joseph Marie) tied her career-high in scoring with 25 points and grabbed 13 rebounds as the Rams used a dominate second half to knock off Caldwell 71-60 in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) Tournament semifinal round Friday afternoon in Dominican College's  Hennessy Center.

Philadelphia—the third-ranked team in the NCAA Division II East Region Rankings—improves to 24-6 overall. The Rams are in the CACC Tournament final for the second straight year and will take on Bloomfield, a 55-52 winner over Holy Family in the other semifinal, for the conference title on Saturday, March 5 at 4 p.m.

In the regular season, Bloomfield defeated Philadelphia 63-58 in the Gallagher Center on Jan. 30.

Jessica Kaminski (Philadelphia, Pa./Archbishop Wood) and Tori Arnao (Newtown, Pa./Archbishop Wood) also recorded double-doubles in the victory. Kaminski racked up 12 points, 13 rebounds, and four assists, while Arnao had 10 points and 11 boards.

Rachel Day (Horsham, Pa./Archbishop Wood) contributed 14 points.

The Rams leaned on their forwards in the opening quarter as Newell scored seven points and Arnao added four. Arnao put Philadelphia in front for the first time (8-6) with a jumper at the 3:22 mark. Caldwell (21-9) came back with two straight buckets from Sharell Sanders—the Cougars' leading scorer with 26 points—to reclaim a 10-8 advantage.

Newell converted a three-point play and Day scored her first points of the afternoon to give the Rams a quarter-high three-point lead (13-10). Sanders ended the quarter by hitting a basket with 57 seconds left to tie the score at 13.

Back-to-back baskets in the paint from Newell and Jackie McCarron (Harleysville, Pa./Lansdale Catholic) allowed the Rams to open up a four-point cushion (19-15) 1:50 into the second quarter. Midway through the quarter, the Cougars went on a 6-0 spurt to take a 26-23 lead on an Andie Lennon steal and fastbreak layup at the 3:18 mark. The Rams trailed at the break 29-27.

The third quarter was all about the Philadelphia defense and Kaminski's scoring as the Rams took the game over. After Caldwell shot 37.1 percent (13-of-35) in the opening half, Philadelphia forced Caldwell into five turnovers and a 23.5 shooting percent (4-of-16).

On the offensive end, Kaminski shot 4-of-5 from the floor on her way to a 10-point quarter—matching the entire Caldwell team. The Rams hit 52.6 percent of their attempts (10-of-19), outscored the Cougars 23-10, and led 50-39 and the end of the quarter.

The first of two Day fourth-quarter 3-pointers came Philadelphia a game-high 55-39 lead with 8:55 remaining. Philadelphia's lead was trimmed to eight on several occasions, but a key 6-0 run late in the going pushed the gap back up to 14 and put the game away.

Philadelphia finished the game shooting 42.6 percent (29-of-68) from the floor and held Caldwell—the best team in the CACC in terms of field goal percentage—to 36.2 percent (25-of-69). The Rams also owned a 51-32 rebounding advantage, 21-12 on the offensive end.