MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – Top seeded St. Thomas (26-4) defeated fifth seeded Thomas (12-17) 66-56 in the semifinals of The Sun Conference Women's Basketball Championship presented by Don Shula's Hotel and Golf Club at the Fernandez Family Center.  With the win, St. Thomas will face no. 3 seed Webber International in Saturday's championship game.
 
Desanta' Franklin-Jordan led the Bobcats with 16 points including a critical three-pointer that gave the Bobcats their first double-digit lead of the night with four minutes remaining in regulation.  Sun Conference Player of the Year Dannisha Pierce, who played much of the second half with four fouls, scored 15 points, going 11-of-13 from the free throw line.  Cleyder Blanco added 10 points and pulled down a team-high six rebounds.  Antishia Wright was the game's leading distributor with seven assists.
 
First-Team All-Conference selection Courtney Saunds led the Nighthawks with a game-high 31 points.   Bria Joyner-Williams led all players on the glass with 12 rebounds.
 
The game featured 11 lead changes and 10 ties, but the Bobcats pulled away with a 9-0 scoring run capped by a layup by Jamesha Willis that gave STU a 54-45 lead with 7:09 to play.   The Nighthawks would cut the lead to six points, but get no closer as STU hit free throws down the stretch to seal the win.
 
The Championship Game between St. Thomas and Webber International is scheduled to tip off at 3 p.m. on Saturday at the Fernandez Family Center.  Live video coverage of the championship game will be provided at https://new.livestream.com/stusports and live stats at http://www.sidearmstats.com/stu/wbball/