Chicago, Ill. - Tenth-ranked Saint Xavier held the Roosevelt women's basketball team without a field goal over the final eight minutes and closed the game on an 15-2 run to earn a 74-56 victory over the Lakers in the semifinals of the SXU Holiday Tournament on Wednesday night at the Shannon Center.

The Cougars (12-3) advance to take on Davenport in the tournament title game on Thursday at 7:00 p.m., while Roosevelt will square off with St. Ambrose in the third-place game at 5:00 p.m. The Lakers (8-7) defeated the Queen Bees earlier this season, 79-75, on Nov. 27.

Sophomore Kiara Towles paced Roosevelt with 13 points and six rebounds. Sophomore Casey Davis also scored in double figures, totaling 11 points. Senior Peggie Parhas shook off a tough shooting night to lead the Lakers on the boards with a career-high 12 rebounds. For the second straight outing, sophomore Tori Clark was strong off the bench with eight points and eight rebounds.

Suzie Broski and Marissa Young each totaled a game-high 17 points to lead Saint Xavier, while freshman Mogan Stuut posted a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds.

Roosevelt hung tough with perennial Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference favorite Saint Xavier for the opening 32 minutes as the contest saw five ties and four lead changes. The Lakers withstood a Cougars' second-half charge that built the home side a 12-point lead, clawing back to trail by a 59-54 margin with 8:05 remaining. Roosevelt could get no closer, missing its final eight shots from the field and going 2-for-5 from the foul line down the stretch as Saint Xavier pulled away.

The Lakers' second half shooting was the difference in an otherwise closely contested affair. Roosevelt converted just 19 percent of its attempts and went 0-for-11 from three-point range in the final 20 minutes, with its 19 points in the second half its second-lowest output of the season in a period.