COLCHESTER, Vt. - The Saint Michael's College women's basketball team dropped its regular-season finale to Merrimack College, 63-50, on Tuesday in the Ross Sports Center, but by virtue of other action around the league, the Purple Knights clinched a postseason berth for the first time in three years. The Purple and Gold is 12-14 overall and 7-14 in the Northeast-10 Conference, while the Warriors improved to 14-12 and 10-11.

Thanks to nationally-ranked Stonehill College downing Saint Anselm College, 64-56, Saint Michael's tied Saint Anselm for the fifth position in the NE-10 Northeast Division but won the tie-breaker. As the No. 5 seed in the division, the Purple Knights will head to American International College on Friday for an NE-10 Championship first-round contest at 7 p.m. The Yellow Jackets are the Southwest Division's No. 4 seed. Saint Michael's is back in the postseason for the first time since 2011-12, and for the first time under second-year head coach Shannon Kynoch.

Junior Makenzie Burud (Red Hook, N.Y./Coleman Catholic) led the Purple Knights with 15 points and seven rebounds, while senior Maggie Sabine (Litchfield, Maine/Oak Hill/Central Maine CC) had 13 points and six boards. First-year Maddy Bennett (Montpelier, Vt./U-32) turned in six points off the bench, while sophomore Indira Evora (Somerville, Mass./Somerville) had five points, five rebounds, five assists and two steals. First-year Lyric Blanch (Kingston, N.Y./Kingston) totaled five points, and junior Megan Gaudreau (Brooklyn, Conn./Pomfret School) dished out four assists.

Burud increased her season totals to 420 points and 205 rebounds, becoming just the fourth Purple Knight ever with 400 points, 200 rebounds, 60 assists and 35 steals in one season, and the first since Erica Kensey '04 in 2002-03.

Merrimack, which clinched the No. 4 seed in the Northeast Division, received 14 points and 12 rebounds from senior Aria Johnson (Los Osos, Calif./Cuesta College), who shot 6-of-9. Sophomore Caitlyn Garger (Hicksville, N.Y./Hicksville) added 12 points off the bench, and junior Tia Scott (New York, N.Y./Suffield Academy) notched eight points and six assists. Senior Allison Wagner (Center Conway, N.H./Kennett) notched eight points.

Burud scored the game's first bucket after 1:11, a lay-up, but Merrimack responded with the next eight points by 16:57 of the opening half to take the lead for good. Saint Michael's used a 7-2 run to later trim its deficit to 12-11, as Bennett converted a three-point play, Burud dropped home a put-back, and Blanch made a pair of free throws at 12:49 to cap the stretch. The teams then traded 4-0 spurts, with Sabine and Burud posting hoops to again bring Saint Michael's within one point, 16-15, and Burud's basket at 5:17 allowed the hosts to trail 18-17. However, Merrimack concluded the stanza on a 10-4 run, with seniors Cassi Amenta (Lynn, Mass./Saint Mary's) and Chloe Rothman (Newton, Mass./Newton South) both scoring four points. The visitors led 28-21 at halftime.

Sabine's freebie created a 33-26 margin at 18:10 of the second half, but Johnson scored the first six points in an 8-0 run, and Merrimack eventually used a 14-4 stretch to extend its advantage to 57-36 on Scott's three-point play with 7:19 left. The Purple Knights scored the next seven points to kick off a 14-4 run, with Burud canning a triple to make it 57-43 at 4:48, and senior Kelly Frappier (Colchester, Conn./Bacon Academy) backed her defender down for a lay-up at 1:10 before Bennett's hoop with 41 seconds left made it 61-50. Merrimack scored the last hoop to produce the final margin.