Fisher, Hartwick, Ithaca and Stevens Win Conference-Openers
ST. JOHN FISHER 76, Utica 65 (Box Score)
The St. John Fisher College women's basketball team earned a 76-65 victory over host Utica College as both squads opened conference play on Friday evening. The Cardinals extend their win streak to four and improve to 8-2 overall, while the Pioneers fall to 4-6.
Fisher quickly jumped out to an 11-0 lead with five points each from
Portia Velasco and
Sydney Bloomstein. The Pioneers got on the board with a free throw from Ashley Mayo.
The Cardinals continued to power through on offense with a balanced attack.
Emily Piacentini gave Fisher an 18-4 lead with a 3-pointer.
Mary Kate Cusack recorded five points in seconds with a 3-pointer of her own and a pair of free throws, giving Fisher a 30-14 lead. The Cardinals saw its biggest lead of the game, 20 points, with under eight minutes left in the opening half.
Utica came back and cut the lead down to 10 points in three minutes with help from Mary Miceli, who tallied eight points in that span. At the half, Fisher would still lead by 10, 43-33.
The Pioneers carried their momentum from the first half, opening the second half with a 10-2 run, making it a 45-43 game.
The Pioneers' soon saw the Cardinals take over for the rest of the game, however, as Fisher went on a 25-9 run and didn't turn back.
Cusack and Velasco recorded 19 points apiece. Bloomstein added seven points, six boards and three steals. Piacentini and
Lunden Cunningham combined for 17 points to support the offense.
HARTWICK 62, Houghton 43 (Box Score)
Sophomore
Courtney Cirillo led a trio of Hawks in double figures on Friday night as the Hartwick women's basketball team opened up Empire 8 Conference play with a 62-43 win over Houghton. The Hawks improve to 2-7 overall with the win while the Highlanders fall to 3-6.
Cirillo scored 14 points for the Hawks.
Alicia Razanousky added 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting to go along with eight rebounds.
Emily Stone notched 11 points and five boards for the Hawks.
The first half was relatively balanced with the two teams exchanging leads seven different times. The Hawks held a slim 20-18 edge with 7:10 left in the first half, but a big 14-2 run to close it handed 'Wick a 34-20 advantage entering the break. Cirillo scored six in the run with
Taylor Vonasek adding four.
The Highlanders got as close as 11 points on two occasions early in the second half, but Hartwick maintained at least a 14-point margin over the final 11 minutes. The Hawks' lead would swell to 21 points following a
Jess Bellai layup with 3:49 left en route to the victory.
Vonasek ended the contest with seven points and a team-high nine rebounds for 'Wick.
Jacqui Foreman contributed six points, six boards, and a game-high five assists.
Sophomore
Christina Graziadei scored four points, grabbed five rebounds, and blocked a game-high five shots. Freshman
Kelsey Brown added six points and four rebounds.
Maisie Pipher led all players with 16 points and 11 rebounds for Houghton. Hannah Manwaring was also in double figures with 13 points.
The Hawks made 41.7% (25-of-60) from the field and made 6-of-11 (54.5%) from three-point range in the game. They held the Highlanders to 34.6% (18-for-52) shooting. Hartwick dominated the glass, 47-31, and scored 20 second-chance points.
ITHACA 76, Elmira 68 (Box Score)
Playing at home for the first time since Nov. 15, the Ithaca College women's basketball team snapped a two-game losing streak and improved to 1-0 in the Empire 8 Conference with a 76-68 victory over Elmira College. With the win, Ithaca is now 7-3 overall and Elmira is 3-5, 0-1.
Ithaca got on the board first in the opening minute on a layup from senior
Francesca Cotrupe and forced Elmira into a couple turnovers over its next three possessions. The Bombers then took a 4-0 lead on a put-back from senior
Ally Mnich that made the Soaring Eagles burn an early timeout. A steal and transition jumper from senior
Samantha Klie put Ithaca ahead, 6-0, before Elmira ended the run on its ensuing possession at the 16:46 mark.
Elmira tied the game up at 7-7, but Ithaca answered with an 8-2 run to go back up by six points, 15-9, with 12:48 left in the half. The run was highlighted by back-to-back three-pointers from freshmen
Jordan Beers and
Alex Gilligan.
The Soaring Eagles brought the game back to a four-point spread at 15-11 midway through the half, but Elmira was then held scoreless for nearly three minutes as the Bombers went on an 8-0 run to extend its lead to 23-11. Elmira fought back to a nine-point deficit at 24-15 with six minutes to go, but Ithaca ended the half outscoring the Soaring Eagles, 14-7, and took a 38-22 lead into the locker room.
Sophomore
Shayna Gaskins netted five points over the final six minutes, while Mnich scored four.
Elmira came out of the break on fire and went on a 12-4 run over the first 3:14 to close to within eight points at 42-34. After a timeout was called by Ithaca to slow things down, the Bombers stayed ahead by at least seven points, and by as many as 11 until Elmira closed to four at 56-52 with 9:06 left in regulation. Beers then scored five of Ithaca's next seven points to put the Bombers back up by 11 points at 63-52 with 7:33 remaining.
Refusing to go away, the Soaring Eagles crept back to within six points on three different occasions – the last at 4:53. Ithaca put the game out of reach after freshman
Erin Woop put in a layup and junior
Keri Steele hit a three to push the spread back out to 10 points at 72-62 with 1:41 left.
Cotrupe finished the game with 14 points and 11 rebounds (seven offensive) for her second double-double of the season. She shot 6-for-12 overall and added four steals in 25 minutes. Beers scored 10 points on 4-for-9 shooting (2-for-4 from three) off the bench.
Klie and Steele both tallied eight points for Ithaca. Klie dished out six assists and grabbed five rebounds, while Steele pulled down four to go along with three steals.
Mnich, Woop and senior
Geena Brady each added six points in the win. Gaskins and Gillian both chipped in five points, while sophomore Erin Ferguson and freshman
Julie Yacovoni had four points apiece.
Yacovoni pulled down seven rebounds, while Ferguson notched six.
Ithaca shot 41.2-percent overall in the game (28-for-68) and pulled down 51 rebounds – 20 on the offensive end. Elmira went 22-for-55 from the field and finished with 34 rebounds.
STEVENS 80, Alfred 67 (Box Score)
Junior
Kaitlyn Astel scored 21 points and pulled down nine rebounds to lead the Stevens Institute of Technology women's basketball team to a 80-67 win over Alfred University Friday night.
The win was Stevens' (6-1) sixth in a row while Alfred fell to 3-6. During the streak, the Ducks have won by double-digits four times and scored at least 80 points twice.
Junior
Miranda Ripken finished second on the Ducks with 11 points while sophomore
Brittany Washington chipped in with 10. Sophomore
Erica Guketlov led with three assists. As a team, the Ducks forced 20 turnovers and shot 43.7 percent from the field.
A layup from sophomore
Hannah Brophy five minutes into the game gave the Ducks a lead they would hold onto for the rest of the half. Alfred was able to keep it close though before junior
Megan Petuskey's layup with nine minutes remaining gave the Ducks their largest lead of the half at nine.
From there the Saxons were able to chip away over the next few minutes, bringing the deficit to within one with just under six minutes to go off a three. That's as close as Stevens would allow them to get though as the Ducks closed the half by scoring the final six points to take a 39-32 lead into the break.
Stevens opened the second half with five unanswered thanks to a three point play from Ripken in the second minute of action. The Ducks were able to maintain that double digit advantage going forward before gaining a 16 lead with a three from sophomore
Daphne Ginn during the eight minute mark.
A layup from freshman
Megan Brown with five minutes remaining brought the lead to 18 before a Ripken jumper took it to 20. Alfred was able to muster some resistance with threes on back-to-back possessions in the four minute mark, but three pointers from Astel and freshman
Sydney Darby extinguished the run and allowed the Ducks to cruise to the win.
|
SCHOOL |
CONF |
OVERALL |
|
Stevens |
1-0 |
6-1 |
|
St. John Fisher |
1-0 |
8-2 |
|
Ithaca |
1-0 |
7-3 |
|
Hartwick |
1-0 |
2-7 |
|
Nazareth |
0-0 |
4-4 |
|
Utica |
0-1 |
4-6 |
|
Elmira |
0-1 |
3-5 |
|
Alfred |
0-1 |
3-6 |
|
Houghton |
0-1 |
3-6 |