Four Wins for Women's Hoops

12/7/2013 7:57:12 PM

Elmira 59, Clarkson 53  (Box Score) 


Hougntno 54, D'Youville 53
hit a free throw with 11.2 seconds left to cap a 54-53 comeback win over visiting D'Youville College on Saturday afternoon.

Houghton had trailed 53-45 with just over four minutes remaining, but scored the final nine points of the contest to grab the win.

The Highlanders fell behind by six early but used a 14-2 run to go up 14-8 at the midway point of the first half. The Spartans used their own rally to tie the score at 21 and kept up the pace to take a 28-21 lead. Houghton trailed 30-23 at the break.

The Highlanders struggled to find the basket in the first half as they shot just 29 percent from the field, while the Spartans shot 44 percent.

Coming out of the locker room, it was Houghton who grabbed the momentum first, scoring seven-straight points to tie the score at 30. The next 10 minutes featured several ties and lead changes as the teams battled back and forth. D'Youville was able to pull ahead by two with a three pointer with 6:01 left and added two more threes over the next minute and a half to up the advantage to 53-45. That would be the last the Spartans would score.

Stephany Ellison (Whitesville, NY, Whitesville HS) converted one of two from the line, and after a Spartan turnover, Marie Martuscello (Corning NY, Corning-Painted Post ) hit a jumper to trim the deficit to five with 2:27 left. The teams exchanged several empty possessions over the next minute, before Martuscello converted two free throws then grabbed a key rebound on a Spartan miss. On the ensuing possession, Moose nailed her second three of the game to tie the score at 53 with 39 seconds on the clock. Moose got another defensive rebound, was fouled, and converted her first three throw to give the Highlanders the lead with 11.2 seconds left. A Houghton violation on the second shot gave the Spartans the ball with a chance to take the lead, but the visitors turned it over as time expired.

Moose finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Highlanders. Christel Enriquez-Fisher (Colorado Springs, CO, William Mitchell HS) had a strong all-around game with five points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. Martuscello finished with 12 points and six rebounds.

The Highlanders shot just 29 percent from the field for the game, but had a 51-39 advantage on the boards and turned the ball over just 11 times.


Ithaca 77, St. Lawrence 66
The 16th-ranked Ithaca College women's basketball team (5-1) got off to a slow start, but a 14-0 run aided in Ithaca's 77-66 victory over visiting St. Lawrence (1-4) Saturday afternoon in Ben Light Gymnasium.

St. Lawrence led the first 17 minutes of the game and owned a double-digit, 27-17, gap at 7:40, but Ithaca bridged intermission with a 15-4 run to secure an indefinite advantage. Ithaca led the entire second half and by as many as 19, 62-43, at 11:43. The Saints cut within 11 on five occasions late in the game, but Ithaca answered every bucket with one of their own to win its second straight at home.

Junior Ally Mnich (Holmdel, N.J./Holmdel) led the Bombers with 15 points. Seniors Mary Kate Tierney (Rochester, N.Y./Our Lady of Mercy) and Kathryn Campbell (Wall, N.J./Wall) added 13 and 12, respectively, while junior Geena Brady (Syracuse, N.Y./Onondaga Central) chipped in 11. Tierney, who had a pair of blocks, pulled down six boards for the Bombers and rookie Erin Ferguson (Berkeley Heights, N.J./Governor Livingston) added five. Senior Jenn Escobido (Lisbon, Conn./Norwich Free Academy) made a game-high four steals to go with eight points.

Ithaca shot 41.9 percent from the floor to the Saints' 37.3 percent. The Bombers drained a potent 90.9 percent from the free throw line, hitting 20 of 22. The Saints converted 18 of 22.

The Saints jumped out to a 15-6 lead before powering ahead 27-17 at 7:40. Eight unanswered down the stretch gave Ithaca a 33-32 edge at 2:51. The Bombers led 38-34 at the break. Ithaca dominated the latter half. The Bombers used a 14-0 run to take a 62-43 advantage and maintained a steady lead through the final buzzer to improve to 31-13 all-time against the Saints.

The teams have played annually since 1984 in a series dating back to 1977.


St. John Fisher 72, Rochester 60
The No. 5 St. John Fisher College women's basketball team cruised to a third place finish in the 21^st annual Wendy's College Classic after defeating No. 2 University of Rochester 72-60 on Saturday at Roberts Wesleyan's Voller Gymnasium.

Both Camaryn Buckner and Portia Velasco were named to the All-Classic First Team for their outstanding performances.

The Cardinals, now 6-3 on the year will return open Empire 8 play at 8 p.m. on January 3^rd against Houghton College.

The Cardinals never trailed in the first frame of action, jumping out to a 12-2 lead after Velasco drained an easy bucket.

The Yellowjackets cut Fisher's lead to four points, but the Cardinals recaptured the momentum courtesy of an 8-2 run en route to a 36-28 lead at the break.

Rochester came out of the locker room more energized than they had been in the first half. 

The Yellowjackets quickly erased Fisher's lead using a 13-2 run capped by a layup from Danielle McNabb with just under five minutes played in the half.

The lead would be short-lived, however, as the Cardinals continued to pour it on, burying shot after shot to take a 46-45 lead midway through the stanza – a lead that they would not surrender.

Fisher's offense took control as the half wore on, outscoring Rochester 15-5 to hold a 63-50 lead, allowing Fisher to close out the game with a 72-60 win.

Velasco scored a game-high 30 points as the junior guard converted 18-20 from the charity stripe.  She also posted four rebounds, four steals and four assists in the win.  Buckner had a fine game, tallying 12 points to go along with six rebounds and two blocks, while Mary Kate Cusack had seven points and McKenzie Bezon netted six points and seven rebounds.


RIT 79, Nazareth 62
RIT's Kayla Wheeler combined 20 points with a game-high 12 rebounds for sixth-seeded RIT Saturday as the Tigers defeated eighth-seeded Nazareth, 79-62, in women's basketball to take seventh place in the Wendy's College Classic played at The College at Brockport.

The victory boosted RIT's record to 3-4, while Nazareth slipped to 2-5. Sophomore Julia Brew was Nazareth's high scorer with 23 points.

For RIT, Wheeler made 8 of 12 shots from the field, including one three-pointer to produce her 20 points. She also had four assists. Jess Kramer added 13 points and four assists for RIT.

Nazareth led early in the game and had a 13-11 advantage following a pair of free throws by Maria Allocco. A basket by Wheeler tied the score, then a basket and free throw by Kramer put RIT ahead to stay, 16-13 with 10:26 left in the first half. Wheeler had 13 of her points in the first 20 minutes as the Tigers extended their lead to double digits, 43-27, by halftime.

Nazareth never got close in the second half even though Brew broke loose to score 16 of her points in the final 20 minutes. Meanwhile, Ashlynn Palmitesso and Courtney Tennant each scored eight points in the second half to keep the Tigers comfortably in front.

Brew's 23 points included four three-point baskets as well as five rebounds. Sophomore Veronica Peck added 11 points and Allocco had 10 points and 11 rebounds.

Nazareth made 17 of 53 shots (32.1 percent) and 21 of 27 free throws (77.8 percent). RIT went 30 for 59 from the field (50.8 percent) and had a 40-32 rebounding edge.