Ithaca and Stevens to Host Women's Basketball Semifinals on Friday
Top-seeded Ithaca College and second-seeded Stevens Institute of Technology will each host Empire 8 Women's Basketball Championship semifinal games at 6 p.m. on Friday.
The Bombers (15-1 conference, 19-6 overall) will face fourth-seeded Utica College (11-5, 15-10) in a rematch of last year's conference championship won by the Pioneers. Ithaca won both regular season matchups handily, 74-53 at Utica on Jan. 11 and 75-61 at home on Feb. 5. The Pioneers have won the Empire 8 tournament twice in the past three seasons, upsetting the Bombers in the semifinals in 2007-08 and in the final last season.
The Ducks (12-4, 19-6), who snapped Ithaca's 33-game regular season conference winning streak on Saturday to earn the second seed, will host third-seeded St. John Fisher College (12-4, 15-10). The teams split home wins during the regular season with Stevens winning 63-45 on Jan. 14 and the Cardinals rebounding for a 56-49 victory on Feb. 5. The Ducks won the Empire 8 title as the second seed in 2008-09.
The championship game will be played on Sunday at the site of the highest remaining seed. If the host institution is hosting both the men's and women's championship, the women will tip-off at noon. If the women's final is a stand-alone contest, the game will start at 1 p.m.