SALEM, Virginia — University of Scranton women’s basketball coach Ben O’Brien knew a response was coming. A team doesn’t win 91 straight games without trying to mount a comeback.

Sure enough, NYU opened the third quarter with a run that narrowed a 12-point halftime deficit down to three. But following a timeout, the Lady Royals had a response. They weathered the storm and subsequent others the rest of the way to earn a 60-52 victory Thursday night in the NCAA Division III women’s basketball semifinals at Roanoke College’s Cregger Center.

Meghan Lamanna led the Lady Royals (32-0) with 18 points. Kaeli Romanowski, who earlier Thursday was named a Women’s Basketball Coaches Association All-American honorable mention, totaled 14 points, 16 rebounds, two assists and five steals. Elizabeth Bennett chipped in 10 points, all coming in the first half, as Scranton advanced to the championship game Saturday at 4 p.m. against Denison University. The Big Red advanced with an 82-61 triumph over Wisconsin-Oshkosh in Friday’s first semifinal.

Scranton also halted NYU’s 91-game winning streak, which was the second-longest in NCAA basketball history, men’s or women’s. And, it denied the Violets’ bid for a third straight national championship.

Instead, the Lady Royals will play for their second title in program history; the first came in 1985.

Caroline Peper had 19 points for NYU (29-1). Olivia Lagao followed with 14 points and Yasmene Clark grabbed 10 rebounds.

“Just a total team effort. Incredibly proud of players,” O’Brien said. “We knew at some point there was going to be a punch thrown at us throughout the game and obviously there were many thrown by NYU. But I was most proud of how we responded to that. NYU is a great team, hats off to them they were really, really tough. Watching our players overcome adversity, something talked about all season long, to see them in the biggest moment so far this season respond the way we did, I couldn’t be more proud of them.”

This was a highly anticipated matchup and it lived up to its billing.

A dominant first half where Scranton totally frustrated NYU had them build a 15-point lead. But Brooke Batchelor hit a 3-pointer right before the buzzer to cut the Lady Royals’ advantage to 30-18 at halftime and give the Violets some momentum heading into the locker room.

NYU came out and scored 10 of the first 11 points to close within 31-28 with 5:47 left in the third quarter. Lagao capped the run with a 3-pointer.

O’Brien called a timeout and coming out of that timeout, Lamanna hit a 3-pointer to get the Lady Royals back on track.

Sophia Talutto followed with a pull-up jumper. After a three-point play by Peper, the Lady Royals closed the quarter with a 9-2 burst. Gorski scored off a feed from Lamanna, Romanowski had a layup and Lamanna hit a shot in the lane. After a layup by Peper, Talutto nailed a 3-pointer and Kaci Kranson scored off a steal by Romanowski to give Scranton a 47-34 lead entering the fourth to the delight of their large contingent of fans. Included in the crowd was Scranton’s men’s lacrosse team, who played Tuesday in Sewanee, Tennessee, and stopped on their way back north to support the Lady Royals.

The margin was still 13 points, 52-39, when NYU made one more comeback effort. Batchelor putback a rebound and Lagao hit a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 52-44 with 5:39 left. However, the Violets committed turnovers on their next two possessions and weren’t able to draw closer. Romanowski scored on a layup to make it 54-44 with 5:03 left.

Lagao sank two of three free throws, but Romanowski followed by scoring off a Talutto steal.

Peper and Lagao hit 3-pointers to make it 56-52 with 45.1 seconds left. But four foul shots — one by Talutto , two by Lamanna and one by Katie Gorski — sealed it for Scranton and touched off a wild celebration.

Eight seconds seconds into the game, NYU scored on a 3-pointer by Peper. After that, however, the Scranton defense took charge. It forced the Violets to shoot 1 for 13 the rest of the quarter and commit four turnovers.

That allowed the Lady Royals offense to get going. Romanowski hit a layup, Lamanna canned a 3-pointer before Bennett had consecutive baskets to make it 9-3 with 4:17 left in the first. After a jumper by Batchelor, Bennett scored again before 3-pointers by Kranson and Lamanna gave Scranton a 17-5 lead after one.

In the second quarter, Zahra Alexander banked in a 3-pointer to bring NYU within 19-11. But Scranton responded with an 11-4 run to extend its lead to 30-15 before Batchelor hit her 3-pointer to make it a 12-point game at halftime.

Denison 82, Wisconsin-Oshkosh 61: In the first semifinal, Denison jumped out to a 20-2 lead and never looked back to advance to Saturday’s final.

Five players scored in double figures for the Big Red (29-2) with Abby Cooch and Brooke Toigo finishing with 13 points each. Ada Taute added 12 points, Adelyn Moore contributed 11 points and Anelly Mad-toingue wound up with 10 points.