Smothering Defense Leads Ithaca To Big Win Over Stevens
ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Ithaca College women's basketball team (16-3, 8-0 Empire 8) blew open a close game in the second half to beat visiting Stevens Institute of Technology (7-11, 4-4 Empire 8) Friday at Ben Light Gymnaisum. With the win the Bombers remain alone in first place atop the Empire 8 standings; they'll host second-place Hartwick (15-3, 7-1 Empire 8) Saturday at 2 p.m.
Ithaca outscored the Ducks 32-20 in the second half after closing the first period on a 6-1 run. The Bombers forced 21 turnovers and held Stevens to 28.9 shooting from the floor. The win marked the sixth time this year the Bombers have held an opponent under 40 points.
Senior guard Jess Farley (Pine Valley Central/South Dayton) scored a game-high 18 points and added three rebounds, two assists and two steals. She raised her career total to 220 assists, moving into ninth on the program's all-time list.
Sophomore forward Jenn Escobido (Norwich Free Academy/Lisbon, Conn.) added nine points and eight rebounds and junior forward Devin Shea (St. Basil Academy/Huntingdon Valley, Pa.) finished with a game-high totals of nine rebounds and four blocked shots to go along with six points and two steals. Her four blocked shots -- which tied a career high -- raised her career total to 67, good for sixth on Ithaca's career list.
The Ducks trailed by just four points with 10:47 left before Ithaca ran off an 18-7 stretch to open up a 49-34 advantage.
Ithaca has now won 39 of 40 Empire 8 games since the start of the 2009-10 season .
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