2025 Skyline Conference Women's Basketball Championship - Semifinal
(1) U.S. Merchant Marine Academy 70, (4) Farmingdale State 52

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KINGS POINT, N.Y. | An excellent season by the fourth-seeded Farmingdale State College women's basketball team came to a close Thursday night in the semifinal round of the 2025 Skyline Conference Championship, as the Rams fell by a 70-52 score at top-seeded U.S. Merchant Marine Academy – which is receiving votes in the WBCA Division III Top 25 poll.

The first half was tightly contested, with the visiting Rams (18-9) holding a 15-12 lead after the first period of play. There were three ties and five lead changes during the opening 10-minute session, with FSC sophomore forward Taneece Wooden (Freeport, N.Y.) picking up eight of her 12 points on the night during the quarter. The visitors were down 12-11 to the Mariners (24-1) in the final two minutes, before senior and second-team All-Skyline Conference selection Gemma Pohalski (Huntington, N.Y.) hit a pair of free throws at the 1:17, followed by a jumper from classmate Alexandria Walbroehl (Mastic Beach, N.Y.) seven seconds to go, to put the Rams ahead by three.

In the second quarter, Wooden's jumper in the paint with 4:41 to play gave the Rams their largest lead of the night, 21-16, and forced a time out from USMMA. The Mariners scored the next nine points to go ahead 25-21 with 1:41 on the clock, before a pair of free throws each from Pohalski (game-high 20 points) and sophomore Mia Simmons (Queens, N.Y.) sent the teams into the locker room at halftime tied at 25.

After Pohalski's layup in traffic 2:11 into the third period cut Farmingdale State's early second-half deficit to 30-29, the Mariners embarked on an 8-0 run to go ahead by nine midway through the frame. After Rams junior guard Shyann Parker (Floral Park, N.Y.) brought her team to within a 40-35 count on a mid-range jumper with 3:50 remaining, the hosts extended their lead to 48-39 with a lay-in at the buzzer.

USMMA scored 11 of the first 13 points of the fourth quarter over a 5-plus minute stretch to put the game out of reach, and will play host to second-seeded Mount Saint Mary College in Saturday's (March 1) championship final at noon.

Walbroehl finished the night with 11 points on 5-of-8 shooting to go with a team-high seven rebounds, while Simmons and senior guard Erin Conte (Melville, N.Y.) – the recent recipient of the Skyline Conference's Elite 19 award for holding the highest grade-point average of any student-athlete in the six-team conference tourney – tied for the game-high with three steals apiece. 

Farmingdale State's 18 wins on the 2024-25 campaign marked its most since 2014-15, and the Rams' home first-round contest Tuesday (Feb. 25) against St. Joseph's-Long Island was the team's first home tourney game since 2018.