Fisher Wins Title; Ithaca Handed First Loss

Fisher Wins Title; Ithaca Handed First Loss

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ST. JOHN FISHER 80, Union 62
The women's basketball closed out the final eight minutes of the Woodcliff Hotel and Spa Invitational championship game on a 25-11 run to defeat Union College 80-62 on Sunday in Manning and Napier Gymnasium.

Portia Velasco was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament after scoring 39 points, collecting eight steals and five assists over the two-day span.

Fisher took a seven-point lead in the first half off a McKenzie Bezon 3-point field goal to put the Cardinals up 18-11 eight minutes into the contest.

With Fisher leading by five points late in the half Emily Piacentini drilled a shot from 3-point land to put Fisher up 33-25.  Fisher led 33-29 at the half.

After a back-and-forth second half Fisher was able to open up a 15-point advantage, 71-56, after back-to-back 3-point field goals from Sydney Bloomstein and Mary Kate Cusack.

Bloomstein and Bezon led the way with 14 points apiece.  Cusack finished with four assists to go along with 13 points.  Velasco chipped in 13 points while Lunden Cunningham finished in double-digits with 10 points.

Mary Kate Cusack was named to the All-Tournament Team.


John Carroll 65, ITHACA 51
The Ithaca College women's basketball team suffered its first loss of the season at John Carroll on Sunday, 65-51. Ithaca (3-1) entered the game ranked 16th in the nation, while John Carroll (5-0) was receiving votes in the USA Today/WBCA Top 25 Poll.

The Bombers fell behind, 9-0, over the first 3:22 of the contest and were never able to erase the deficit. Ithaca would get on the board with 14:36 left in the first half, but would go down by as many as 13 at 25-12 with just under nine minutes to go before halftime. From there, the Bombers attempted a comeback and got to within one, 30-29, at the 1:27 mark, but that was the closest they could get.

John Carroll was held scoreless for just over four minutes during Ithaca's run, but went into the break with a 32-29 lead.

As the second half began, John Carroll went on a 10-2 run over a 4:21 span to build a 42-32 lead and maintained that double-digit cushion for the rest of the matchup.

Sophomore Ali Ricchiuti scored all of her team-high 12 points in the first half on four three-pointers. Ricchiuti added four rebounds and two steals.

Senior Francesca Cotrupe pulled down a game-high 14 rebounds, 10 in the first half, to go along with two assists and two points. Senior Samantha Klie and freshman Jordan Beers each chipped in seven points.

Senior Ally Mnich and sophomore Erin Ferguson both tallied six points. Mnich grabbed three rebounds, while Ferguson notched two.

Ithaca shot 37.3-percent in the game (19-for-51) and 50-percent from three-point range (8-for-16). The Bombers did, however, outrebound John Carroll by one, 36-35, but committed seven more turnovers (21 to 14) which led to a 24-point difference on the scoreboard.