Stevens Defeats Utica 56-49
UTICA, N.Y. (January 28, 2012) – The Stevens Institute of Technology women’s basketball team topped Utica College 56-49 in an Empire 8 clash on Saturday at the Clark Athletic Center. Jillian Barrett (Philadelphia, Pa.), Dawn Garcia (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and Avis Benjamin (Queens, N.Y.) were all in double figures for the Ducks, who snapped a three-game conference skid and remain in playoff position with just two conference weekends to go.
The win moves the Ducks to 5-4 in the conference and 8-11 overall. Utica fell to 7-13 and 2-7 in the Empire 8. Though the Ducks led wire-to-wire, there was some drama as the host Pioneers cut the Stevens lead down to three with 8:34 remaining in the game.
From there, Stevens rallied as Barrett hit back-to-back layups to bring the lead back up to seven, and two points in the paint from Benjamin gave the Ducks a double-digit lead with two minutes to go. Garcia’s jumper 40 seconds later sealed the Stevens triumph.
The Ducks led 25-18 at the break, and a big reason why was the fact that the visitors out-rebounded Utica 22-15. Benjamin had eight points by the halfway mark.
For the game, the Ducks outscored the Pioneers in the paint 32-20, and had 11 second-chance points to Utica’s five.
Meghan Fiore (Epping, N.H.) led Utica with 18 points…Stevens shot 46 percent from the field, a marked improvement from its game on Friday night…Dawn Garcia hit the lone three-pointer of the game for the Ducks...Jen Thompson (Linwood, N.J.) and Molly Spadaro (Sewell, N.J.) had six points apiece for Stevens.