Ithaca Advances Past Fisher with 73-69 win
Box Score
Top-seeded Ithaca College held on for a 73-69 win over fourth-seeded St. John Fisher College in the first of two semifinal games hosted in Ithaca, NY. The Bombers advance to the Empire 8 Championship on Saturday at 4pm against the winner of No. 2 Hartwick/No. 3 Stevens.
Ithaca improves to 22-4 on the season and will be seeking its third straight E8 Championship. With the loss, Fisher finishes the season with an overall record of 16-10.
Mary Kate Tierney led Ithaca with 22 points and set the program's single-season record for 3-pointers made. Tierney connected three times from behind the arc to raise her season total to 60 3-pointers made, bettering the previous mark of 58 set by Erin Sanvidge in the 2006-07 season. Tierney also had 12 rebounds in the contest and made 5-of-7 free throws, with two of those makes coming in the final minute as Ithaca preserved its narrow lead. It was the 10th double-double of the season for Tierney, and 15 of her points came in the second half of the game.
St. John Fisher led for the majority of the first half and had the game's largest lead of 8 points after a 3-pointer by Mary Kate Cusack gave the Cardinals a 15-7 advantage with 13 minutes remaining in the first half. Ithaca worked its way back into the contest and answered with an 18-7 run and established a 25-22 lead. The Bombers led 31-29 at halftime.
Jenn Escobido scored 16 points for Ithaca and
Elisabeth Wentlent had a career-best 12-point effort. Escobido was 10-for-12 at the free-throw line in the contest. Wentlent nailed a 3-pointer from the corner with 6:10 remaining to give Ithaca a 56-52 lead and the Bombers led the rest of the way, but never pulled away from St. John Fisher. The Cardinals kept the game close throughout, after losing by 34 points in a regular-season matchup against Ithaca three weeks earlier. Ithaca's largest lead was six points in the final minute after Wentlent made a pair of free throws. The game was tied 11 times.
Portia Velasco led St. John Fisher with 27 points. Camaryn Buckner had 16 points and 13 rebounds and Cusack scored 15.