COLCHESTER, Vt. - On the final night of the regular season, the Saint Michael's College women's basketball team knocked off Southern New Hampshire University, 72-60, on Tuesday in a Northeast-10 Conference contest in the Ross Sports Center, ultimately clinching a berth in the NE-10 Tournament after action around the league was resolved.

The Purple Knights will hold down the 10th seed in the 10-team postseason, heading to No. 7 College of Saint Rose on Friday for a first-round contest at 7 p.m. Saint Michael's fell just before the buzzer during the teams' regular-season meeting on Jan. 21.

By moving to 12-14 overall and finishing 9-13 in the NE-10, Saint Michael's downed a regionally-ranked Penmen team, as Southern New Hampshire is ninth in the latest NCAA Division II East region rankings. The visitors slipped to 19-9 and 14-8 and will hold down the fifth seed in the postseason.

Junior Nicole Adach (Schenectady, N.Y./Mohonasen) led the Purple Knights with 18 points on 8-of-10 shooting to lead five players in double figures. Senior Coreen Hennessy (Chatham, N.H./Fryeburg Academy) added 15 points on 11-of-12 free throw shooting to go along with six assists and three steals, while sophomore Cara Deroy (Hamden, Conn./Hamden) notched 14 points. Junior Megan Olsen (Glenmont, N.Y./Bethlehem Central) totaled 11 points off the bench, senior Caitlin Quinn (Oakdale, Conn./Montville) collected 10, and sophomore Alexa Long (Waterford, Conn./Waterford) grabbed 10 rebounds. As a team, Saint Michael's shot 54.3 percent from the floor, including 4-of-9 from beyond the arc.

Junior Sloane Sorrell (Berwick, Maine/Noble) led all players with 24 points for Southern New Hampshire, while classmate Michelle DeRoma (West Roxbury, Mass./Mount Alvernia/American International) hit three threes en route to 15 points. Senior Christine Duffy (South Boston, Mass./Archbishop Williams), the Division II leader in assists, finished with eight points and eight helpers. The Penmen were 5-of-19 from three but finished shooting 43.9 percent overall.

The visitors turned an early four-point deficit into a three-point edge, leading by an 18-15 count with 8:11 remaining in the opening half before the hosts scored the next seven points, taking the lead for good on a pair of Hennessy free throws at 7:26. Deroy's triple capped the run, and the Purple Knights led 22-18 at 5:22.

After Southern New Hampshire cut the margin to three, six straight points - including back-to-back buckets by Adach - made it 32-23, and Saint Michael's headed into halftime up by a 34-26 count. Adach's hoop 54 seconds into the second half pushed the Purple Knight advantage to double digits, which ballooned to 18 before a Sorrell basket brought the Penmen within 63-55 at 3:17. However, the hosts went 9-for-10 from the charity stripe in the final 1:43 to ice the victory.