Utica, Hartwick, Stevens and Ithaca win first conference games of 2013
Utica 73, St. John Fisher 69 (OT)
The Utica College women’s basketball team defeated visiting St. John Fisher College, 73-69 in overtime in Empire 8 Conference action Friday night at the Clark Athletic Center. Freshman Mary Miceli had a game-high 23 points, including a career-high six 3-pointers, and senior Meghan Fiore brought down 18 rebounds for the Pioneers.
After nearly a full 20 minutes of back and forth action, it looked like Utica would take a two-point lead into the locker room at halftime, however Fisher guard Portia Velasco sunk a half-court shot as time expired to put the Cardinals up 32-31 at the half.
The second half was more of the same as each team traded the lead. Utica was down by four before Fiore netted a layup with 43 second remaining to pull the Pioneers within two. The Utica defense caused a key turnover with 17 seconds remaining to give UC one final push. Senior Brittany Baudanza hit junior Alyssa Filkins who drained a shot from just inside the arc with only five seconds left on the clock to send the game to overtime.
UC controlled most of the play in the extra frame, as it did not trail at all in the five minute period. Miceli hit back-to-back 3-pointers with less than three minutes to play to put the pressure on the visitors. The Cardinals fought back, tying the score at 69-69 with a minute and a half remaining; however a layup by Filkins and free throws from Fiore and Miceli sealed the Utica victory.
Miceli finished with 23 points and five boards, while Fiore had 19 points for her fifth double-double of the season. Filkins had nine points, nine assists, and five rebounds, while classmate Bridget Greenwald had nine points and brought down 14 rebounds. Brittany Baudanza finished with seven points and four assists, while Racquel Baudanza (three points), Samantha Stayer (one point), Christy Traglia (two points), and Marissa Kahane and Kelcei Edmonds each added one assist on the night.
Hartwick 62, Nazareth 44
Hartwick dominated host Nazareth College in the second half, outscoring the Golden Flyers 35-18 to earn a 62-44 road victory in Empire 8 women's basketball on Friday night at Kidera Gymnasium in Rochester.
Reigning Empire 8 Rookie of the Week
Brittney Dumas led the way for the Hawks with her first double-double in a Hartwick uniform. Dumas dropped in a career-best 21 points on 9-of-16 shooting and a career-high 10 rebounds.
Maria Foglia scored 10 points, grabbed four rebounds, and added a game-high four assists with three steals.
Lee Arduini contributed 10 points to go along with four rebounds, two assists, and two steals.
The Hawks fell behind in the early going of the first half. They trailed by a 12-4 margin after six minutes, 19 seconds but turned things around by blanking the Flyers over the next five minutes. Hartwick would fire in the next 11 points to go up 15-12 with 8:40 to go in the half.
Back-to-back three-pointers would give Naz the lead back which it kept for nearly four minutes. An Arduini jumper and free throw with under four minutes remaining in the first half put Hartwick in front for good at 22-20. The Hawks led by as many as four before a late Megan Morrison three-pointer trimmed the advantage to one, 27-26, at the half.
With three minutes elapsed in the second half, the Hawks began to pull away starting with a three from
Kate Purcell. It would mark the start of six consecutive scoring possessions for the Hawks.
Arduini added two straight baskets for a nine-point edge before Lindsey Kelly answered with a layup for the Flyers. Dumas then converted a layup for Hartwick and Foglia scored on consecutive layups following a pair of Hawk steals for a 43-30 lead.
The Golden Flyers called timeout, but a minute later Arduini sank a three-pointer for the Hawks' biggest lead up until that point, 46-30, with 13 minutes to play. Five straight points for Naz cut the deficit to 11 points, 46-35, with under 12 minutes left but that was as close as it would get to 'Wick.
Later, two free throws from Kelly would again bring the Flyers to within 11 points, 50-39, but the Hawks countered with 10 of the next 13 points to pull away.
Stevens 64, Houghton 56
Three players reached double figures as the Stevens Institute of Technology women's basketball team opened the New Year with a 64-56 victory in the program's first-ever matchup with Houghton College on Friday night. Stevens shot 47 percent in the second half to earn the come-from-behind win.
Freshman
Dylan Krause (Atlanta, Ga.) scored the first six points of the game on a pair of threes, and would go on to lead Stevens with 17 points on the night. But despite the hot start, the Ducks would find themselves trailing 30-25 at the break. Houghton had a 12-2 advantage in 'points in the paint' and shot a full 10 percentage points better from the field in the first 20 minutes.
The Ducks started out hot again in the second, but this time they were able to maintain their flow.
Miranda Ripken (Fallston, Md.) and Krause combined to score the first five points of the second half and cut the Highlander lead down to two. Ripken would go on to finish with 11 points.
With 12:20 left in the game, freshman
Megan Petuskey (Mays Landing, N.J.) went to the line and hit a pair of free throws, the first of which tied the game and the second gave the Ducks their first lead of the half. The Mays Landing native knocked down a big three-pointer a minute later to knot the game up again at 45.
Ripken hit a jumper at 10:51 for the next score, and the Ducks were able to hang on to that lead for the rest of the game. The team ran their advantage all the way to 11 on a layup from junior
Avis Benjamin (Queens, N.Y.), who finished with 10 points and scored the last four points of the game for Stevens.
Stevens senior
Maggie Kowalska (Edison, N.J.) finished the night with an astounding seven blocks…she also scored six points and grabbed eight boards…
Jen Thompson(Linwood, N.J.) scored eight on 3-for-4 shooting and was 2-of-2 from behind the arc...the Ducks scored 14 points off of turnovers, while holding Houghton to only three in the same category...Stevens forced 28 turnovers while committing 18…
Lisa Tessitore (Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.),
Lindsay Crossan (Hunterdon, N.J.) and
Kaitlyn Astel (Staten Island, N.Y.) all made their season debuts in this first game of the spring semester.
Ithaca 75, Alfred 39
All 12 players scored at least two points as the Ithaca College women's basketball team posted a 75-39 win over visiting Alfred in an Empire 8 game at Ben Light Gymnasium. The Bombers improved to 9-1 on the season and are 2-0 in the Empire 8 while the Saxons are now 4-6 on the season and 0-2 in the conference.
Both teams started slowly in the first half and combined for just 10 points through the game's first six and a half minutes. Ithaca rallied from an early 6-0 deficit with a 27-7 run over a 12-minute stretch to seize control of the game. The Bombers outscored Alfred 41-19 in the second half.
Kathryn Campbell (Wall, N.J./Wall) scored 12 of her game-high 19 points in the first half and added a team-leading four assists. Two other Bombers scored in double figures as
Francesca Cotrupe(Whitesboro/Whitesboro) scored a career-high 16 points in the game, and has averaged 11 points per game over Ithaca's last three contests, all of which were Ithaca wins.
Samantha Klie (Wyckoff, N.J./Ramapo) scored 11 points.
Jenn Escobido (Lisbon, Conn./Norwich Free Academy) has 12 rebounds and
Ally Mnich (Holmdel, N.J./Holmdel) had six steals for a Bomber team that forced and capitalized on 29 Alfred turnovers. Ithaca turned the ball over just 10 times and held a 49-31 advantage in rebounds.