New London — Before the first jump shot on Tuesday, Mitchell College already had exceeded expectations.

The Mariners, projected to finish sixth in the New England Collegiate Conference preseason women's basketball poll, earned a share of the regular season title and the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament.

Now they're advancing to the NECC semifinals for the fifth time in the last six seasons after beating seventh-seeded Elms College, 66-49, in the quarterfinals. It was their program record setting 17th  win on the Division III level.

They'll host third-seed Becker College, a 57-49 winner over Newbury College, on Thursday at 7 p.m.

"Our slogan this year has been 'We believe,'" said Courtney Burns, who was named the NECC coach of the year in her second season at Mitchell. "We were voted sixth in the preseason poll and no one thought we'd get to the point that we're at now. I think we've exceeded expectations.

"Regardless of what anybody else thinks, it's about each of those individuals in that locker room believing that we have ability to do it."

Things usually don't go according to plan in the postseason. And that was the case on Tuesday.

Foul trouble forced the Mariners to play long stretches without NECC rookie of the year Amina Wiley, who was limited to 21 minutes.

They survived thanks to an active defense that forced 26 turnovers and also received vital contributions from reserves Jessica Lohneiss, Marissa Sweeney and Ramzie Jones who combined for 18 points, nine rebounds and four steals.

"At first it was difficult," said Kelsey Hernandez about playing without Wiley. "But we just pushed through it. We got the win and we grinded it out. But it was definitely not our game tonight and we made a lot of mistakes. We're going to get back in the gym tomorrow and make sure that doesn't happen again."

Freshman Le'Sandra Turner, who also battled foul trouble, led the way with 17 points while junior Kelsey Hernandez (10 points), Lohneiss (10 points) and Wiley (11 points, 11 rebounds) also scored in double figures. Sweeney had five points and seven rebounds.

Earlier Tuesday, Turner and Hernandez were All-NECC third team selections.

Burns called Lohneiss the MVP of the game for her sense of calmness, execution and composure.

"What's good about our offense is it allows people to step into those roles and not have a drop-off," Burns said. "That's been a huge thing for us this year. Everybody practices all those positions all year in practice. Luckily, we have some great bench players in Jess Lohneiss, Ramzie Jones and Marissa Sweeney who are stepping up big in those moments."

The Mariners (17-9), who swept the regular season series, seized the lead for good with a 19-2 run that started near the end of the first quarter and carried over into the second quarter. Their advantage stood at 41-29 at the break.

"The second quarter we started pushing the ball, started running more in transition," Hernandez said. "That was our game. Then we just kept going up and down."

On the plus side, Mitchell responded every time Elms (12-14) made a charge. A 19-point lead dipped to 10 a few times but the Mariners held on. They limited Elms to just seven points in the final quarter.

They'll turn their attention to third-seeded Becker (19-7), which also shared the regular season title with Mitchel and New England College. The two teams split the regular season series, with the Mariners winning the last meeting on Saturday by two points.

"We are coming for it all," Hernandez said. "We believe that we're the best team. We've worked so hard."

g.keefe@theday.com.