PITTSBURGH – On Thursday, the defending PAC Champion Chatham Cougars will visit the Allegheny Gators in the Women's Basketball PAC Tournament Semifinal at the David V. Wise Center at 7 p.m.

The Cougars, who captured the three-seed in this year's tournament, come into the game with a 20-5 overall record and a 17-3 conference record, having just beaten the six-seed Bethany Bison 61-59 in Tuesday's Quarterfinal at home. The two-seed Allegheny Gators, who earned the first-round bye, are 18-7 overall and 17-3 in PAC play.

Allegheny swept the season series against Chatham by taking the Nov. 23 matchup by the score of 73-65 in Meadville and then winning the rematch in Pittsburgh 75-65 on Jan. 25. Charjae Brock and Madison Nereu carried the load for the Cougars in each game. Nereu had a 16-point, 10-rebound double-double in Meadville and a 19-point, 9-rebound performance at home, while Brock averaged 18 points per game in the two matchups.

Chatham owns the #1 scoring offense (78.0 points per game) and the #1 scoring defense (54.0 points allowed per game) in the conference, while Allegheny ranks fourth in scoring offense (71.3 points per game) and tied for fifth in scoring defense (63.3 points allowed per game).

Each team features a guard in the PAC's top five in scoring, with Chatham's Ashlie Louden ranking fourth at 15.0 points per game and Allegheny's Emily Lauer in third at 17.0 points per game.

The winner of this matchup will advance to the PAC Final to face the winner of W&J and Grove City. A link to the tournament bracket can be found here.

The winner of the PAC's Championship Tournament will receive the league's automatic qualifying bid to this year's Division III Championship Tournament. The selected Division III Championship teams, as well as the first and second round site selections, will be announced Monday, March 3rd. First and second round games are scheduled for Friday-Saturday, March 7-8.