The Case Western Reserve University women's basketball team won its opening game at the Pablo Coto Tip-Off Tournament in Arlington, Virginia on Friday night, defeating Penn State Harrisburg 70-61.

The Spartans improved to 2-1 with the win while the Lions dropped to 0-4 with the setback.

Friday's win moves the Spartans into the tournament's championship game, where they will face host Marymount University, which defeated Worcester State 67-48 in earlier action on Friday.

CWRU first-year guard Jordyn Call caught fire in the second half of the game, coming off the bench to score all of her game-leading 17 points over the final 20 minutes of action. It was a season-high scoring output for Call, who shot six-for-eight from the floor, including five-for-seven from behind the three-point line. Graduate student forward Kate Montgomery added her first double-double as a Spartan, scoring 15 points with 11 rebounds and two blocks. Senior forward Kayla Characklis finished with 11 points and six rebounds, while first-year guard Mya Hartjes added six points, six rebounds, seven assists, and two steals.

The first half of the game was back-and-forth between the two teams, with the lead changing 10 times and the score tied on six occasions. Down 13-10 with 2:42 left in the first period, the Spartans went on a 7-0 run, keyed by six points from Montgomery, to take a 17-13 lead, and carried a two-point advantage into the second quarter. CWRU found itself down two again late in the second quarter, trailing 30-28 with 2:26 to play. However, a three-pointer by Hartjes gave the Spartans the lead back and started an 8-0 run over the next 1:19, helping the Spartans take a 36-32 lead into the halftime break.

CWRU came out cold from the floor in the third quarter and threes on back-to-back possessions by Penn State Harrisburg's Bailey Oehmig put the Lions ahead by two with 5:51 left in the frame. The Lions remained ahead until the final minute of the period when Call knocked down her second three-pointer of the quarter to put the Spartans ahead 45-44, but Penn State Harrisburg answered with a three of its own to take a 47-45 lead into the final frame.

The Spartans took the lead back on another three by Call to start the fourth quarter and went on to open the quarter on a 7-0 run to go ahead 51-47. CWRU went on to lead by as many as nine points in the fourth quarter, going ahead 66-57 on a layup by Characklis with 3:24 to play, and going back ahead by nine on a layup by graduate student forward Morgan Micallef with three seconds left in the game.

CWRU shot 66.7% (10-of-15) from the floor in the fourth quarter to clinch the victory. The Spartans finished the game shooting 37.1% from the floor and 32.0% from three-point range. The Spartans outrebounded the Lions 50-35, and finished the game with a 43-21 edge in bench points and a 26-8 advantage in points in the paint.

Tip-off of Saturday's tournament championship game between the Spartans and the Saints is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.