Ithaca 75, Stevens 68
The Ithaca College women's basketball team took over first place in the Empire 8 Conference with a 75-68 victory at Stevens Institute of Technologyon Friday night in Canavan Arena. Ithaca also snapped Stevens' 10-game winning streak en route to a 10-3 overall record and 4-0 mark in the Empire 8.
The first half of Friday night's game was highly contested throughout all 20 minutes. Over the first 6:18 of the game, neither team led by more than two points. Ithaca built a three-point edge, 11-8, at the 13:25 mark on a jumper from sophomore Alex Gilligan, and would then go up by six points, 16-10, on a three-pointer from freshman Jordan Beers with 10:22 left.
Stevens answered with a short run to pull back to within two points at 17-15 with9:11 on the clock, but the Bombers responded with six unanswered points over the next 1:50. The Ducks brought things back to a single possession, 25-22, with 4:59remaining, and then crept to within a point at 27-26 with just over two minutes to go.
Beers would hit another three-pointer for Ithaca on the ensuing trip down the floor to go back up by four at 30-26, but the Ducks ran off the next four points to knot the contest up with 38 ticks left. Sophomore Shayna Gaskins hit a jumper to put Ithaca back ahead, 32-30, but Stevens made a pair of free throws at the other end to deadlock the game at 32-32 at halftime.
In the second half, Ithaca came out on fire. The Bombers outscored Stevens, 25-6, over the opening six minutes to establish the largest lead of the game at 57-38. Junior Keri Steele scored 10 of her team-high 14 points during the run, while seniorAlly Mnich scored eight of her 14 points in that same time.
Mnich also grabbed a team-high in rebounds with seven.
Stevens scored three quick points in the next minutes, and then both teams went cold for 2:07. The Ducks ended the scoreless drought and would then chip away at the Bombers' advantage over the final 11 minutes until they pulled to within a three-point difference at 71-68 with 28 remaining.
Steele and Gaskins put in the final four points of the game from the free throw line to secure the conference road win for Ithaca.
Steele made all nine attempts at the line on Friday to go along with five rebounds. Gaskins tallied seven points with three rebounds.
Sophomore Ali Ricchiuti notched 11 points for the Bombers on 5-of-9 shooting with five rebounds. Senior Samantha Klie chipped in eight points, four assists and three rebounds, while Beers added seven points.
The Bombers shot 46.2-percent (24-for-52) in the game and overcame a minus-12 deficit in rebounds (49-37) with a plus-12 different in made free throws (22 to 10). Stevens pulled down 24 offensive rebounds but shot just 37.3-percent from the floor.
Ithaca travels to Hartwick tomorrow for a 2 p.m. conference showdown. The Bombers will then host Houghton and Alfred next Tuesday and Friday in Ben Light Gymnasium. Both games are scheduled for a 6 p.m. tip-off.
Nazareth 82, Alfred 39
Senior
Maria Allocco scored career-high 15 points and grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds Friday as host Nazareth defeated Alfred in an Empire 8 Conference women's basketball game, 82-39, at the Kidera Gymnasium.
Nazareth improved to 8-5 overall and 3-1 in the Empire 8. Alfred dropped to 4-10 overall and 1-5 in conference games.
The Golden Flyers were efficient offensively in scoring a season-high 82 points as they connected on 33 of 67 field goal attempts, including 11 of 20 from three-point range. The 82 points is the most for the Golden Flyers since Dec. 30, 2013 when they defeated Medgar Evers, 89-32.
In addition to Allocco, junior
Sam Sorge scored 16 points and juniors
Julia Brew and
Lindsey Kelly each added 12. Alfred's Amanda Off scored a game-high 20.
Nazareth was in control from the outset as the Golden Flyers connected on nine three-point shots in the first to build a commanding 40-20 lead. Brew scored all 12 of her points in the first 20 minutes -- all on three-point shots. Alfred's Emilea Harrison scored the first basket of the game, then Nazareth used a 19-7 scoring run to secure its first double-digit lead at 19-9 following a three-pointer by Sorge with 10:55 to play in the half.
The lead continued to grow as Nazareth continued to rain threes. In addition to three-pointers by Brew and Sorge, junior
Veronica Peck made two and
Kelly Broderick and
Samantha Peebles one each in the first half. Nazareth continued to dominate in the second half as Sorge scored 13 of her points and Allocco added 10 more. Nazareth also had a significant rebounding advantage, 44-28, with Kelly and
Melissa Reeves each grabbing seven and sophomore
Hayley Spoljaric had five.
Elmira 59, Hartwick 56
With the game tied at 52-52 with 1:46 left in regulation time, the Elmira College women's basketball team (6-7, 3-3 E8) used a game-ending 7-4 run to defeat Empire 8 Conference opponent Hartwick College (4-10, 2-3 E8) 59-56. Three players scored double-digits for the EC women today. Danielle Cleary '18 led all with 16 points, five assists, three rebounds and two steals in the win.
Meghan Loya '16 tied a season-high of 14 points and added seven points while Alex Balara '15 posted 10 points, four steals, three rebounds, and two assists today. The Purple and Gold also posted a season-high 47.7 percent field goal percentage in the game.
Balara kicked off the game with a jumper 1:04 into the game while Loya made a jumper of her own 43 seconds later to give Elmira a quick 4-0 lead. The Hawks answered back with four points of their own to tie the game up at 4-4. The EC women traded baskets with Harwick until the game was tied at 8-8. Elmira then went on a 7-2 run, capped off with a Cleary three-pointer to take a 17-10 lead with10:44 left in the first half. The Hawks chipped away at the Purple and Gold's lead until they trailed by only three points with 6:34 left in the half. Cleary then drained back-to-back three pointers to give the Soaring Eagles a nine point lead. Hartwick then scored the game's next seven points to cut the EC lead to just two with 3:10 left. Elmira then finished the first half on a 7-2 run to take a 31-24 lead heading into the locker room.
Hartwick slowly chipped away at the Purple and Gold's lead until the game was tied up at 46-46 with 7:25 left in regulation time. Both teams traded baskets as the lead was tied five more times in the half until the game was tied up at 52-52 with 1:46 left. Hartwick then took a one point lead that was answered by a Cleary three-pointer to give Elmira a two point lead. With 10 seconds left, the Hawks were at the foul line and made a shot to cut EC's lead to one point. Cleary then drained two foul shots to give the Soaring Eagles a 57-54 lead with eight seconds left. With one second left, Hartwick put up a three to try and tie the game but missed and settled for two points. Kelsey Geisler '15 took the pass in and was fouled and made two free throws to win, 59-56.
Utica 65, Houghton 45
Houghton women's basketball fell to 0-6 in the Empire 8 Conference after a 65-45 loss at Utica on Friday.
The Highlanders suffered through a seven-minute scoreless drought midway through the first half that allowed the Pioneers to take control. Utica led 34-16 at the half. Houghton shot just 27 percent from the field and turned the ball over 15 times in the opening 20 minutes.
The second half saw a better performance from the Highlanders, who shot 39 percent from the floor and were outscored 31-29.
Maisie Pipher (Lowman, NY, Twin Tiers Christian) finished with game-highs of 18 points and 12 rebounds for her 10th double-double of the season.
Christel Enriquez-Fisher (Colorado Springs, CO, William Mitchell HS) added 10 points and six rebounds.
Houghton finished with a 44-40 edge in rebounds.