SALISBURY, Md. - The Salisbury University women's basketball team extended its season on Tuesday evening as the fourth-seed Sea Gulls held off the fifth-seed Catholic Cardinals, 75-69, in the first round of the Capital Athletic Conference tournament at the Maggs Center in front of a crowd of 225.

"I am most happy for my seniors," said Salisbury coach Bridget Benshetler. "It was a great win. We came out and played super, super basketball."

Salisbury senior Jessica Mills had a night to remember as she eclipsed the 1,000 point mark for her career at SU with a free throw at the 6:11 mark in the second half. Mills finished with a game-high 22 points and now has 1,001 career points.

"Everyone stepped up tonight," said Mills, who started the season with a personal goal of reaching the 1,000 career point mark.

The Sea Gulls (15-10) jumped out early on the Cardinals (15-11) as they built an early 16-point advantage, 18-2, just six minutes into the game. Salisbury used hot shooting and pressure defense to keep Catholic off-balance and maintain a double-digit lead at halftime up 45-29.

The Sea Gulls shot 56 percent in the first frame on 18-of-32 shooting from the field, which included 4-of-5 from beyond the three-point arc.

Salisbury remained hot from the field early in the second half as junior Meghan Phillips (18 points) hit a three-point bucket on the Sea Gull's first possession to push the lead to 19, 48-29.

Catholic quickly answered as freshman Justine Gray connected on three of her team-high 19 points to pull the Cardinals back within 16.

The Cardinals continued to chip away at the Salisbury lead as Gray and senior Maria Rojas (18 points) combined to score the next nine points to cut the SU lead to 53-41 with 15 minutes left to play.

CUA later went on an 11-0 run midway through the half to pull within two, 58-56, and eventually took its first lead of the game at the 5:36 mark, 63-62.

Salisbury retook the lead with four and a half minutes to play at 64-63 and never trailed again as it went on to the six-point win.

Seniors Jenna Peters and Meghan Klug added 10 and 12 points each, respectively, as Mills recorded a team-high nine rebounds.

With the win the Sea Gulls advance to the semifinals of the CAC tournament to face top-seeded and 9th ranked Mary Washington on Thursday, February 22, in Fredericksburg, Va. at 7 pm. The last time SU and UMW met in the CAC tournament was in the 2004-05 season in the championship game as UMW won 84-62.

"To win a championship you have to beat the best. I wouldn't want it any other way," said Benshetler.