ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. - Shenandoah University will play for its second in-season women's basketball tournament championship of the 2009-10 season Saturday afternoon after downing Wilkes University 76-69 Friday night in the opening round of the R1 Sports Blue Jay Classic.

As with its opening tournament at Susquehanna, SU (4-4) will play the host school for the championship. Elizabethtown opened the tourney earlier Friday with a 49-39 winner over Cabrini.

The two teams will play Saturday at 3:00 in the championship game. The game is also a rematch of the 2008 F&M Tournament championship, won 64-53 by the Blue Jays.

Senior Alexis Hargbol led the Hornets to the victory over the Colonels (2-8) with a game-high 21 points. However, her 18^th point of the evening, scored on a free throw with just over three minutes remaining, will likely be the point she never forgets.

That shot, which put the Hornets up seven points, was the 1000^th of Hargbol's career and makes her the 15^th member of the women's basketball 1000-point club.

She is the first SU woman to crack the 1000-point barrier since Dee Fisher '07 at the end of the 2006-07 season.

In a game that had four lead changes and six ties early, Shenandoah took the lead for good on a Sierra Edwards layup with 2:16 remaining in the first half. Edwards bucket, which snapped a 31-31 deadlock, started a 10-2 run that sandwiched the halftime break.

After Wilkes was able to eventually cut the deficit to one point by the 14:51 mark of the second, the Hornets effectively ended the contest with an 18-5 run over the next 9:01.

Now armed with a 64-50 lead, SU led by at least four points for all but 28 seconds the rest of the way.

Coach Michelle Guyant-Holloway's club then clinched it by converting six of 10 free throws in the final 50 seconds.

In addition to Hargbol's 21 points, Mandy Johnston had 12, Crystal Williams had 11 and Katherine Flint 10 with five assists to key the win.

The Colonels had five women score in double figures.

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