SJFC Defeats Rivier; Houghton Edges Geneva
ST. JOHN FISHER 89, Rivier 69
Portia Velasco tallied a season-high 26 points to lead the St. John Fisher College women's basketball team to a 89-69 victory over Rivier University in the Cardinals' home-opener for the Woodcliff Hotel and Spa Invitational.
Fisher jumped out to an early 9-4 lead following a
Bridget Carney layup.
Rivier settled in taking a 19-12 lead at the 12:22 mark. The Cardinals climbed back into the game with a 9-0 run capped off by a traditional three-point play from
Mary Kate Cusack to give Fisher a 21-19 lead.
Cusack also scored the final points of the half, converting two free throws, as Fisher led 40-37 at the break.
Five points from Rivier's Savanna Butterfield helped the Raiders reclaim the lead 48-44 with 16 minutes left in the game.
With the score tied at 52 in the second half Fisher used a 20-5 run to open up a 72-57 lead. Cusack started the run with a 3-pointer and
Claire Walsh put in a layup to end it.
Velasco was a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line while tallying a career-high six steals. Cusack finished with 23 points of her own with five steals while Walsh made three 3-pointers to pace Fisher's offense.
Sydney Bloomstein led the Cardinals with seven boards to add to her team-best total of 20 on the year.
HOUGHTON 53, Geneva 50 (
Box)
Houghton women's basketball overcame a 10-point second-half deficit to pull out a 53-50 win over Geneva College on the road Saturday.
The Highlanders actually held the lead throughout the majority of the first half, pushing their advantage to as many as eight points at the 15 minute mark. But the Golden Tornadoes hit back to back threes to trim the margin to two and were able to tie the score at 14 at the 8:15 mark. The hosts extended the lead to four (24-20) at the intermission.
Geneva maintained there momentum to start the second half and slowly started to put some distance between themselves and the Highlanders. The lead ballooned to 10 points (36:26) with just under 10 minutes remaining. However,
Maisie Pipher (Lowman, NY, Twin Tiers Christian) scored six points during a 12-4 run that trimmed the margin to two with 6:11 to play. Geneva pushed the lead back to five, but a
Hannah Manwaring(Barton, NY, Tioga Central HS) three pointer and a layup from
Hannah Fink (Coudersport, PA, Coudersport HS)tied the score at 49.
Christel Enriquez-Fisher (Colorado Springs, CO, William Mitchell HS) then got a steal and layup and then assisted on a layup by Fink that gave Houghton a 53-49 advantage with just a minute to play.
Geneva converted the front end of a one-and-one with just half a minute to go, but the visitors held on as neither team would score down the stretch.
Pipher continued her strong play in the post, lead the Highlanders with 16 points and a game-high 14 rebounds to go along with five assists and three blocked shots. Fink chipped in with 12 points and six rebounds, while Enriquez-Fisher finished with 10 points, 12 rebounds, five assists and four steals.
Houghton outrebounded Geneva, 46-28, and shot 44 percent from the field on the night, while holding the Golden Tornadoes to just 33 percent.