Hartwick Completes Season Sweep of Stevens
HOBOKEN, NJ - Maria Foglia (Rensselaer, NY/Catholic Central) scored 21 points to lead Hartwick's women's basketball team to a 55-52 victory over Stevens Institute of Technology on Tuesday night at Canavan Arena in Hoboken, NJ. The victory for the Hawks is their second straight and it completes a season sweep of the Ducks after a 67-58 win at Lambros Arena back on January 25th.
Hartwick led by its biggest margin of the night, 49-41, with just under four minutes left after Fritzi Flores (Bergenfield, NJ/Paramus Catholic) connected on a three-pointer. The Ducks, however, scored six straight points in the next minute and a half to close to within two, 49-47.
A pair of Flores free throws gave the Hawks some breathing room, but Stevens' Victoria Webber nailed a triple to make it a one-point game, 51-50, with under two minutes left. Junior center Samantha Fox (Hartwick, NY/Cooperstown) hit a jumper following a nice feed from Foglia to increase the advantage to three on 'Wick's next touch of the basketball.
Both teams couldn't convert on their next possessions before Webber sank another two free throws with 20 seconds to play to cut the Hartwick edge to one, 53-52. Foglia tacked on the final points with two from the free-throw line and Stevens missed their three-point attempt in the closing seconds. The Ducks had one final chance with an out-of-bounds play with less than a second remaining, but they couldn't get a shot off in time before the final buzzer.
Hartwick shot only 31% for the game, but connected on 24 of their 27 attempts (89%) from the free-throw line in the game. The Hawks' defense also forced 21 Stevens' turnovers which they turned into 21 points.
The Ducks only made 29% from the floor as a team. They out-rebounded the Hawks by a 41-29 margin.
Foglia made 11 of 12 free throws for her team-high 21 points. She added a game-high five steals, team-high four assists, and seven rebounds. Flores added 12 points and a team-high eight boards. Kate Purcell (Buffalo, NY/Mount Mercy Acad.) and Fox each contributed eight points for the Hawks.
In the first half, Stevens (17-6, 10-4 E8) led by as many as seven points, 9-2, in the opening five minutes of action. Hartwick, however, stormed back with a 15-2 run over the next eight minutes. The Ducks made it into the locker room up just a point, 25-24.
Neither team led by more than four points over the first 15 minutes of the second half. An 11-3 run by the Hawks in a six-minute span would give 'Wick the big eight-point edge with four minutes left.
The Ducks were led by Webber's game-high 24 points. Dawn Garcia added 10 points and Victoria Armstrong grabbed 16 rebounds.