Velasco Reaches Career Milestone

2/7/2014 10:14:40 PM

St. John Fisher 84, Houghton 51 (Box Score)
Portia Velasco became the 22nd player in women's basketball history to score 1,000 points in her career as the Cardinals cruised to an 84-51 win over Houghton College on Friday night at Fisher's Bobby Wanzer Court.  Velasco rattled home a 3-pointer at the 15:37 mark of the second half to give her 1,001 points.  She finished the game with 20 points and now sits at 1,003 points for her career.

Fisher took control from the start grabbing a 14-0 lead four minutes into the contest capped off by a Camaryn Buckner layup and the Cardinals never looked back.

The Highlanders closed the Cardinals deficit to 10 points, 20-10, with 13 minutes left in the half but the Highlanders would come no closer the rest of the game.  Fisher closed out the half strong and held a 50-26 advantage at the break. 


Hartwick 67, Elmira 48 (Box Score)
Hartwick earned a double-digit lead midway through the first half and never led by any less in a 67-48 victory over Elmira College at Speidel Gymnasium Friday night in an Empire 8 Conference game. 

After an even opening eight minutes, Hartwick took control with a 10-0 run to put it up by 13 points four minutes later. 

Later, a three from Kate Purcell and a layup from Dumas gave 'Wick a 17-point margin, 32-17, with under four minutes left in the half. Six of the last eight points of the half gave the host Soaring Eagles a 36-23 deficit at the break.

After an early second-half Elmira basket in the second half, the Hawks would net the next eight points capped by a Foglia three to increase the margin to 20 points, 45-25, at 15:51.

Seventeen points would be the closest the Soaring Eagles would get over the next eight minutes of action. A jumper from Maria Thannhauser closed the gap to 14 at 5:24, 56-42, but it would be as close as Elmira would get.

BrittneyDumas hit a layup and Kait Veit converted an old-fashioned three-point play and the Hawks were back up by 19 with under four minutes remaining on the clock and 'Wick never led by less than 15 points the rest of the night in the victory.


Ithaca 75, Nazareth 50 (Box Score)
The Ithaca College women's basketball team (17-4, 9-1 Empire 8) won its ninth straight game Friday night defeating visiting Nazareth (7-13, 2-8 Empire 8) 75-50 at Ben Light Gymnasium. Ithaca improves to 38-16 all-time against the Golden Flyers in a series dating back to 1981. The Bombers have won 22 straight games, having not lost to Nazareth for over a decade.

Despite narrowly outscoring Nazareth in the second half, 31-28, the Bombers built a solid 44-22 cushion in the first. Ithaca shot a season-high 52.8 percent from the floor, its second time surpassing the 50-percent threshold this season. The Bombers drained a potent 18-of-27, good for 66.7 percent, in the first frame to power ahead.

Ithaca used a 23-6 run over a nine-minute period to secure a solid double-digit gap. Forcing Nazareth to burn three timeouts, Ithaca led 25-10 at the nine-minute mark of the first and never looked back. It improved its lead to 22 on a Campbell three seconds before intermission. Ithaca inched ahead to lead by as many as 27 in the second frame, 68-41, at 5:42 before finalizing all scoring at 75-50. The 25-point win was Ithaca's second-largest margin of victory this season.

The Bombers outrebounded their opponents 44-32, and held the Golden Flyers to just 2-of-21 shooting from beyond the arc. Nazareth shot 28.1 percent for the game.


Stevens 62, Alfred 47 (Box Score)
The Stevens Institute of Technology women's basketball team improved to 14-7 overall and 7-4 in the Empire 8 Conference with a 62-47 road victory at Alfred University on Friday night.

Stevens fell behind Alfred (6-14,1-8), 2-0, in the first five seconds of the contest but freshman Erica Guketlov hit a three-pointer on the Ducks' first possession to put Stevens in the lead for the remainder of the contest.

The Ducks would push its lead out to nine points, 12-3, over the next three minutes and went up by as many as 21 with 6:27 left in the half (36-15). Stevens held a 19-point edge at halftime, 39-20.

Just under eight minutes into the second half, Stevens built its largest lead of the game at 51-28 on a jumper from sophomore Megan Petuskey. Alfred cuts its deficit to 14 points (53-39) with 7:44 left in regulation, but the Ducks went on an 8-0 run to go back up by 22 points with less than five minutes to go.

Over the final 4:56, Stevens managed just one point to eight from the Saxons.


Standings as of Feb. 7, 2014

SCHOOL	CONF	OVERALL
Hartwick	10-1	17-4
Ithaca	9-1	17-4
Elmira	6-3	14-5
Stevens	7-4	14-7
St. John Fisher	6-5	14-8
Nazareth	2-8	7-13
Alfred	1-8	6-14
Houghton	0-0	6-14
Utica	0-11	5-15
Houghton is an NCAA provisional member and is not eligible for postseason. Games against the Highlanders will not impact conference records/standings.