Top-Seeded Ithaca Holds Off St. John Fisher in E8 Semifinal
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Senior guard Katherine Bixby (Germantown Friends/Philadelphia, Pa.) scored a career-best 29 points to lead the women's basketball team (22-4) to a 72-66 win over St. John Fisher in the semifinal round of the Empire 8 Championship Tournament Friday. With the win -- their school-record 17th straight -- the Bombers advance to the Saturday's conference final at 3 p.m., where they'll play third-seeded Utica (a 64-59 winner over second-seeded Stevens) for the Empire 8 title and the league's automatic bid to the NCAA playoffs.
The Bombers scored 12 straight points late in the first half to erase the visiting Cardinals’ last lead, a 53-51 advantage with 9:01 left. Junior forward Jane DiBiasse (Chatham/Chatham, N.J.) hit a pair of three-point baskets in the run – including one coming out of a timeout that put the Bombers up for good – and junior forward Elissa Klie (Wyckoff/Ramapo, N.J.) assisted on three baskets in the stretch.
Bixby raised her career total to 1,305 points, passing Lauri Hancock (1,295 points from 1986 to 1990) for fourth on the program’s all-time list. Bixby’s point total was the highest by a Bomber since all-American Stephanie Cleary poured in 36 in another Empire 8 playoff win over St. John Fisher (Feb. 27, 2005). Bixby added seven rebounds and a pair of steals. Her five three-point baskets were another career-best figure (giving her 140 in her career, good for third at Ithaca) and she moved into 10th on Ithaca’s all-time steals list, raising her total to 168.
Junior guard Jordan Confessore (South Brunswick/Kendall Park, N.J.) scored 14 points – her highest total since netting a career-best 21 against St. Lawrence (in Ithaca’s last loss, 18 games ago) – and pulled down a game-best eight rebounds. Klie matched Confessore with eight rebounds and added three blocked shots and a career-high seven assists.
Junior guard Colleen Maloney scored 29 points to lead St. John Fisher and added four of the Cardinals’ six steals. Junior center Mary Kate Comfort and junior guard Stephanie Sweeney added nine points apiece for St. John Fisher.
The Bombers led by as many as 12 points early, holding the Cardinals scoreless for a span of 6:47 in the first half to open up a 20-8 edge. The Cardinals pulled to within two on two occasions before scoring the final seven points of the half to take a 33-31 lead into intermission.
Senior guard Lindsay Brown (Immaculate/Danbury, Conn.) pulled down seven rebounds to help Ithaca outrebound the Cardinals 49-34 and added three assists and three steals.