The St. John Fisher College women’s basketball team won its Empire 8 Conference season opener, as the Cardinals picked up a 71-61 win over visiting Alfred University on Sunday at Fisher’s Bobby Wanzer Court.

 
Alfred took its first and only lead early on, but Fisher (4-4 overall, 1-0 Empire 8) responded with 10-0 run to take a 10-2 lead in the opening moments and led 38-31 at halftime.  

 
Alfred (4-3, 0-1) moved to within six points at 46-40 five minutes into the second half, but Fisher pulled away, thanks to a 13-2 run over the next five minutes. 

 
Fisher led by as many as 20 points at 64-44 before Alfred went on a 9-0 spurt, to get the lead down to 11 points with just over three minutes left, but the Cardinals scored field goals on its next two possessions to regain control.

 
For Fisher, Colleen Maloney scored a season-high 27 points. She also blocked four shots and grabbed five rebounds.    Camaryn Buckner totaled 10 points, nine rebounds and three steals.  Stephanie Sweeney led the Cardinals in assists (five) and steals (four), while scoring seven points. Freshman Lauren Gustin tied her career high with nine rebounds.

 

Defensively, the Cardinals held Lyndsay Murphy, Alfred’s leading scorer, to just seven points on 2-for-17 shooting. Christina Jordan led the Saxons with 15 points on five 3-pointers.

 
Fisher finished the game with 44-39 advantage on the glass. The Cardinals shot 24-for-31 (77.4%) from the foul line and 21-for-55 (38.2%) from the floor.