Elmira Soars Past Sage; Kean Hands Stevens a Loss
Elmira 67, Sage 69
The Elmira College women's basketball team (3-2) picked up their second straight win as they posted a 67-59 road victory against host Sage College (3-3). Elmira's starters set the tone in today's game, totaling 66 of the Soaring Eagles' 67 points, accounting for 98.5% of EC's scoring, the highest percentage since November 18, 2011 when Elmira's starters scored all of the team's points.
Elmira had three players finish in double figures and nearly had two players record double-doubles.
Jessica Zoltowski '14 finished with a game-high 28 points to go along with eight rebounds, all eight coming on the defensive end of the floor. Zoltowski's 28 buckets puts her just 16 points shy of second place on Elmira's all-time scoring list with 1,186 career points.
Maria Thannhauser '14 checked-in next for the Soaring Eagles with 13 points.
Liz Forrest '14 posted double-digits for the third time this year with 11 points and also pulled down nine boards, the third time this season she has grabbed as many rebounds. Elmira's other two starters,
Meghan Loya '16 and
Tempestt Black '14, scored eight and six points respectively while
Breen Loney '14 scored EC's only point off the bench.
Credit a large part of today's win to Elmira's ability to contest shots as EC limited the Gators to just 29% shooting from the floor and a dismal 21% from beyond the arc. It is the second game in a row the Soaring Eagles have held their opponents to 30% or below from the field. Elmira on the other hand had a consistent night of shooting as they made 40% of their shots from the field as well as from the three point line.
The Soaring Eagles only trailed once in today's contest at the 19:15 mark of the first half before EC claimed a lead a little over a minute later, a lead they would not relinquish for the remainder of the game. Elmira would go on to lead by as many as 10 points the first half, thanks to a 10-0 run that stretched for nearly four minutes at the end of the half. During the run, Elmira had three players score, including a pair of three-pointers by Forrest and Zoltowski.
Elmira held their largest lead of the game at 36-24 with 17:54 left to play in the second half but Sage would close the gap, cutting the EC lead to 49-48 with 5:59 remaining in regulation. However, the Soaring Eagles would piece together a 10-2 run over the next 2:45 to take a convincing 59-50 lead at the 3:14 mark.
From that point on, Sage would only get as close as five points to Elmira, but three successful free throw attempts by Thannhauser at the end of the game would seal the Purple and Gold's third win of the 2013-14 season.
Kean 77, Stevens 67
Despite 35 points from its bench and 66 total rebounds, the Stevens Institute of Technology women's basketball team fell, 77-67, at Kean University on Tuesday night. Stevens finishes the 2013 portion of its season with a 5-2 record, while Kean improves to 4-2.
All 11 players that saw the floor for the Ducks scored at least two points and grabbed at least one rebound but that was not enough to pull off the road victory.
Stevens opened up the contest with a 4-0 lead, but after a basket from Kean and two free throws tied the game at 4-4 with 16:42 left in the first half, the Ducks would never regain control on the scoreboard. Stevens did, however, knot the game up at 9-9 and 13-13, only to watch the Cougars outscore the Ducks, 26-18, over the final 10:49 of the half.
Kean came out of the locker room on a tear and put a stranglehold on the game with an 18-4 run in the first 7:29. Trailing by their largest deficit on the evening at 22 points with 12:31 to go, the Ducks attempted a comeback and got to within eight points (75-67), but with only 46 seconds remaining in the game, the difference was too much to overcome.
Sophomores
Kaitlyn Astel and
Miranda Ripken, and freshman
Erica Guketlov each tallied 10 points to lead Stevens. Astel went 4-for-8 from the floor in just seven minutes of action, while Ripken was 5-for-10 with eight boards, and Guketlov shot 4-of-6 with two three pointers.
Freshman
Hannah Brophy just missed a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds, and senior
Lisa Tessitore chipped in seven points and four boards. Seniors
Molly Spadaro and
Avis Benjamin combined for 15 rebounds and 11 points. Spadaro pulled down eight boards with four points and Benjamin netted six points with seven rebounds.
Although the Ducks outrebounded Kean, 66-41, with 27 on the offensive end, Stevens committed 27 turnovers which led to 25 points for the Cougars.
Five players for Kean recorded double-digit points, paced by 19 from Jaquetta Owens. AnnaRose Pierre poured in 17 tallies and Simone Smith picked up a double-double on 14 points and 11 rebounds. Essence Casey added 11 points and Stephanie Carlone posted 10 more. The five accounted for all but six points scored in the game.