Ithaca Posts Win At Utica, Claims Empire 8 Regular Season Title
Utica, N.Y. -- The Ithaca College women's basketball team (21-4, 13-1 Empire 8) clinched the Empire 8 regular-season title with a 46-40 win at Utica Saturday. The Bombers, who finished alone atop the league standings, will be the host and top seed for the Empire 8 Championship Tournament. Ithaca will face fourth-seeded St. John Fisher at 6 p.m. in Friday's first semifinal with second-seeded Hartwick taking on third-seeded Stevens at 8 p.m. in the other. The semifinal winners will play in at 3 p.m. Saturday in the conference final with the Empire 8's automatic bid to the NCAA playoffs at stake.
Senior guard Jess Farley scored a team-high 16 points and sophomore forward Jenn Escobido (Lisbon, Conn./Norwich Free Academy) notched her third consecutive double-double (10 points, 13 rebounds) as the Bombers won their 21st game -- tying the 2002 and 2004 teams for the program's highest regular-season victory total.
Ithaca rallied from a six-point deficit late in the first half and took the lead for good with 2:35 left to go, breaking the seventh tie of the game. The Bomber defense turned in its usual stellar effort, holding Utica to one basket in the final 6:19. The Pioneers missed five shots from the floor, went one-for-five and turned the ball over four times in that span; they were one of a school-record 11 opponents that Ithaca held to 50 points or fewer.
Utica's final bucket of the game, a three-pointer with 2:54 to go, tied the score at 40. Escobido converted a pair of free throws 19 seconds later, then assisted on a lay-up by junior center Devin Shea (Huntingdon Valley, Pa./St. Basil Academy) to give the Bombers a four-point lead.
Escobido, who's collected seven double-doubles this season, made four of her eight shots from the field. Her 56.1 field-goal percentage this season is Ithaca's third-highest figure and her career mark of 54.7 is less than a point off the school record. She added three assists (tying a career high) and two steals.
Farley contributed five rebounds, two assists and two steals. Her 16 points included a career-best four three-point baskets. Farley now ranks eighth on Ithaca's all-time steals list (193) and is ninth in both assists (236) and three pointers (74).
Sophomore guard Kathryn Campbell (Spring Lake, N.J./Wall) added 10 points and three assists. Sophomore guard Mary Kate Tierney (Rochester, N.Y./Our Lady of Mercy) finished with seven rebounds and three steals -- both one short of career-high figures. Junior center Devin Shea (Huntingdon Valley, Pa./St. Basil Academy) (six points, four rebounds) blocked three shots.
The Bomber defense has held opponents to 49.8 points per game and 33.2 shooting from the floor; both marks are second to the 1999-2000 team's school-record performances.
Ithaca will be hosting the Empire 8 Championship Tournament for the sixth time in the event's nine years; the Bombers are the only team to qualify for the league playoffs every year and have won four straight Empire 8 regular-season titles, winning 57 of 62 conference games in that span.
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