HENNIKER, N.H. – Emmanuel women's basketball required a second half comeback on Tuesday evening to keep them in the running for the No. 6 seed in the upcoming postseason, as the Saints defeated the New England College Pilgrims, 69-59, at Bridges Gym in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) action.

The win results in the Saints only being eligible for the No. 6 or No. 7 seed in the GNAC Playoffs, as they improve to 13-11 (8-5 GNAC). New England drops to 10-14 (4-9 GNAC) and sits one spot out of a playoff position but in the favorable spot of owning the tiebreakers on both teams ahead of them.

The opening 20 minutes was a back-and-forth battle for control with neither side leading by more than seven at any point. By the break, the Pilgrims held a four-point lead, 35-31, thanks in part to 12-of-25 shooting, including 4-for-7 from beyond the arc.

Emmanuel quickly erased the four-point deficit to start the second half, outscoring the Pilgrims 11-1 in the opening 3:17 to hold their largest lead of the night to that point, 42-36. From that moment, despite numerous attempts from the home side, the Saints wouldn't surrender the lead for the remainder of the night.

The Pilgrims cut the deficit to three by the start of the fourth quarter, but just as they did to start the half, the Saints opened the quarter with another scoring run, this time of 13-5, giving the visitors their largest lead of the night, 65-54.

In the final minutes, the Pilgrims cut the Saints lead down to six, but late-game layups by senior Paris Atuahene and first-year Lia Krumian kept the Pilgrims at a safe distance on the way to Tuesday's 69-59 win for Emmanuel.

Senior Desiree Robinson has shown another gear this month, finishing with a career-high 19 points in a game-high 38 minutes. Sophomore Kaitlyn Bartash added 17 points on 8-for-12 shooting from the floor while matching a career-high with seven blocks. Atuahene chipped in with a dozen points in 37 minutes.

Pilgrims rookie Kaira Creary scored a team-high 12 points on 4-for-8 shooting from three-point distance. Senior Amya Moss added 10 points and five steals in 28 minutes.

The Saints finish their regular season on Saturday, Feb. 22, with a Senior Day game against the team directly ahead of them in the GNAC standings, the Anna Maria AMCATS, at 1:00 p.m. The winner of Saturday's game clinches the No. 6 seed and avoids the Play-In Round while the loser this weekend takes the No. 7 seed and would host a Monday night, Play-In game.