ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Nazareth overcame a slow start in women's basketball Thursday to rally past Brockport for a 58-46 victory in a consolation game of the Wendy's College Classic at RIT.
Nazareth evened its overall record at 3-3 and will play in the tournament's fifth-place game Saturday at 3 p.m. at Brockport against Empire 8 Conference rival St. John Fisher. The Cardinals defated RIT, 68-46, in Thursday's other consolation game. Brockport dropped to 1-3 overall.
The Golden Flyers were listless at the outset as they fell behind 20-8 in the first 10 minutes. Their problems were compounded by two early fouls on leading scorer Brittany Wilson, who was held to just two points in six first-half minutes.
Nazareth, though, regrouped and held Brockport scoreless for a 12-minute stretch while scoring 24 straight points to take the lead for good, 32-20, with less than 18 minutes left. Junior Brittany Patenaude picked up the first-half scoring slack with Wilson on the bench as she made 4 of 5 shots for all eight of her points during the decisive run.
Wilson took over in the second half by hitting 7 of 11 shots for 19 points to finish with a game-high 21. After Brockport closed to within four points, 46-42, Wilson buried a key three-point field goal with 2:06 to go to extend Nazareth's lead to 49-42. The Golden Flyers then hit 9 of 10 free throws in the closing minutes to seal the win. Senior Mary Holland made four free throws, Ashley Gallagher three and Wilson two.
Gallagher had a double-double for the Golden Flyers with 11 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Holland finished with eight points and four assists and went 6 for 6 from the free-throw line.
Alex Leung was Brockport's high scorer with 12 points. Sarah Alwardt added 10.