Klie Leads Ithaca Women's Basketball Team To Big Win At Utica
Utica -- The women's basketball team (9-5, 5-0 Empire 8) rolled to a 74-53 win at Utica (6-7, 2-2 Empire 8) Tuesday, outscoring the Pioneers 16-0 to open the second half. Senior forward Elissa Klie (Ramapo/Wyckoff, N.J.) scored a career-high 27 points.
Klie made 13 baskets -- two short of the program's single-game record -- and added 10 rebounds for her fifth career double-double. Her defensive efforts helped Ithaca harass the Pioneer's two top-scoring forwards to 14-for-31 shooting. She raised her career total to 222 steals, good for fourth all-time at Ithaca, and 199 assists.
Three other Bombers scored in double figures: freshman guard Jennifer Escobido (Norwich Free Academy/Lisbon, Conn.) poured in 13 points off the bench, making five of her six shots; junior guard Jessica Farley (Pine Valley Central/South Dayton) finished with 12 points and five assists (one short of her career high); and sophomore center Devin Shea (St. Basil Academy/Huntingdon Valley, Pa.) added 10 points and six rebounds.
Ithaca never trailed in the game and jumped out to an early advantage, leading 14-6 before the Pioneers tied the game at 22-all with 5:19 left in the first period. Klie scored 13 points over a 5:43 span as the Bombers closed the first half with a 16-7 run and exploded out of intermission with a 16-0 streak. Utica was held scoreless for 5:23 of the second half.
Senior Jordan Confessore (Kendall Park/South Brunswick, N.J.) added seven points, six rebounds and a pair of assists. Freshman guard Kathryn Campbell (Wall/Spring Lake, N.J.) led Ithaca with seven assists -- one short of her career high -- and pulled down six rebounds.
The win was Ithaca's 23rd consecutive Empire 8 victory and raised the Bombers' all-time record against Utica to 30-10 (they've won six of the last seven regular-season contests).
/wbasket/2011/game14.htm">Box score