Ithaca and Stevens Win in Overtime; Hartwick and Utica also Clinch Victories
Ithaca 48, St. John Fisher 43 (OT)
The Ithaca women's basketball team held visiting St. John Fisher to just two points over the five-minute overtime period and the Bombers defeated the Cardinals 48-43 in overtime in an Empire 8 contest Saturday afternoon at Ben Light Gymnasium. Ithaca is 10-1 overall and 3-0 in the Empire 8. Fisher played its second consecutive overtime game and fell to 5-8 overall and 2-2 in the conference.
The Bombers trailed for most of the second half but took their first lead with 5:28 remaining in the half. The teams traded leads over the last five minutes, including twice in the final 80 seconds. A 3-pointer from the left wing by Ithaca's Kathryn Campbell gave Ithaca a 41-38 advantage, but St. John Fisher answered with a 3-pointer by Mary Kate Cusack with 25 seconds remaining knotted the score and sent the game to overtime.
Ithaca rattled off six straight points in the overtime period on a jumper from Campbell and two free throws each from Jenn Escobido and Devin Shea. Shea led Ithaca with 14 points in the game. Campbell and Mary Kate Tierney had nine points each.
The Bomber defense held St. John Fisher to less than 30 percent shooting from the field and Ithaca held a 49-34 advantage in rebounding. Escobido and Tierney had 11 rebounds each for Ithaca. Escobido also led Ithaca with five steals.
Stevens 67, Nazareth 60 (OT)
The Stevens Institute of Technology women's basketball team topped Nazareth College 67-60 in an Empire 8 overtime thriller on Saturday. Freshman
Miranda Ripken (Fallston, Md.) led the Ducks with 17 points and made the first big play down the stretch for Stevens.
With less than one minute to go in regulation and the Ducks trailing by one, Ripken was playing isolation defense with the Naz point guard. Ripken came away with the open-court steal, then knocked down a breakaway jumper to take the lead for the first time in the second half.
Ducks forced a turnover on the inbound and
Lisa Tessitore (Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.) hit a circus shot in the lane with the 30-second clock expiring to increase the Stevens lead to three with 10 seconds to go. On the webcast, the announcer was heard to exclaim “Are you kidding me!?” as Tessitore's shot went in. She would finish with 11 points in just her second game of the season.
But there were no immediate celebrations, as
Erica Shaw (Livonia, N.Y.) hit a three pointer for Nazareth with no time left on the clock to send the game into overtime.
With Stevens up by three with a minute to go in the extra period,
Molly Spadaro (Sewell, N.J.) completed a traditional three-point play to double the Ducks lead and effectively seal the win for Stevens.
The game seemed to turn after
Avis Benjamin (Queens, N.Y.) returned to the floor with eight minutes remaining. At that point, Stevens trailed 47-39 and the junior had four personal fouls. But she was able to stay in the game the rest of the way and scored 15 points and pulled down nine rebounds to help lead the Ducks to the come-from-behind victory.
Freshman
Dylan Krause (Atlanta, Ga.) just missed a double-double with 11 points and nine rebounds…Stevens scored 30 points off turnovers while allowing only six…the lead changed hands five times with six ties…Nazareth has never beaten Stevens, and fell to 0-11 all-time against the Ducks.
Hartwick 67, Houghton 58
A huge 19-0 first-half run enabled a 67-58 victory for Hartwick's women's basketball team on Saturday afternoon over the Houghton Highlanders at the Nielsen Physical Education Center in Houghton, NY in the first-ever meeting between the two programs. The Hawks led by as many as 20 points in the second half and cruised to their second straight victory to kick off 2013.
Hartwick received points from 10 different players with five scoring at least eight points. Freshman forward
Brittney Dumas (Easton, CT/Joel Barlow HS) scored 14 points to lead all Hawks on the day. Junior forward
Katrina Caulfield(Palmer, MA/Palmer) netted a season-high 10 points and grabbed a team-best seven rebounds.
Twelve points was as close as Houghton could get to Hartwick in the second half until the final minute. Two Kristen Moose free throws made the score 45-33 with just over 14 minutes remaining. Two layups apiece from Caulfield and
Maria Foglia (Rensselaer, NY/Catholic Central), however, gave the Hawks their biggest lead of the game 2:10 later, 53-33.
Hartwick maintained a lead of at least 15 points until the late stages. The Hawks were up 64-44 with under four minutes showing on the clock before a 14-3 run to end the game got the Highlanders to under a 10-point deficit.
Dumas would connect on seven of her 12 shots in the game to lead Hartwick. Caulfield made 5-of-8 shots and Purcell contributed five rebounds and four assists.
Foglia finished the game with nine points, four rebounds and three assists. Arduini also ended up with nine points for 'Wick.
Taylor Vonasek (Willington, CT/E.O. Smith) added five points, all coming in the first half of play.
Moose led all scorers with 19 points for Houghton (6-5). Kaitlin Hammersley recorded 11 points and Michelle Persons grabbed a game-high eight boards.
Utica 82, Alfred 58
The Utica College women's basketball team downed Alfred University 82-58 Saturday afternoon in Empire 8 Conference action at the Clark Athletic Center. The Pioneers were led by senior forward
Meghan Fiore (Epping, NH/Epping)'s second consecutive double-double, as she tallied 24 points and 12 boards. Fiore shot 64.3% from the floor (9-of-14) and freshman
Racquel Baudanza (Staten Island, NY/New Dorp) added 16 points for the Pioneers, including a 6-for-7 effort from the charity stripe. The Pioneers made 21 total free-throws, a stark contrast from Friday night's 11-for-25 effort from the line when UC came away with an overtime victory over visiting Fisher.
Alfred's Harley Cleary led the way for the Saxons with 23 points and six rebounds (3-of-9 from 3-point land). Shea Oleksa added eight points on 3-of-5 shooting from the floor. The Saxons fell to 4-6 on the season as well as 0-3 in conference play and they are back on the court Tuesday when they host Elmira.
The Pioneers opened the contest on an 18-11 run in a span of 8:18 behind a balanced scoring effort which included six points from Fiore, four from
Alyssa Filkins (Castleton, NY/Maple Hill) and four from Greenwald. The visitors fired back with a 5-0 run to cut their deficit to just two points, but UC had the immediate answer, in the form of a 9-0 run in just over a minute to push their lead right back to 11 points, 27-16, with 8:02 left in the first half.
UC showed no signs of slowing as it closed out the first half on a 14-5 run in a span of 4:57 to take a 41-23 lead into the locker room at the intermission. The start of the second half was much of the same as the Pioneers exploded on a 16-0 run in a span of 2:27. Fiore led the charge with seven points in the stretch, while
Brittany Baudanza(Staten Island, NY/Staten Island Tech),
Racquel Baudanza (Staten Island, NY/New Dorp) and
Marissa Kahane (Sayville, NY/Sayville) each connected on a 3-pointer. The Pioneers were able to muster their largest lead of the contest shortly after the 16-0 run, as they earned a 68-24 lead with 10:59 to go in regulation.
Alfred closed out the game on a 19-12 run, but the damage had been done as the Pioneers earned the convincing conference victory. Seven different Pioneers scored at least five points including
Mary Miceli (New Rochelle, NY/New Rochelle) (nine),
Alyssa Filkins (Castleton, NY/Maple Hill) (eight),
Brittany Baudanza (Staten Island, NY/Staten Island Tech) (eight), and
Samantha Stayer (Allegany, NY/Allegany-Limestone) (five).