Nazareth knocks off Fisher, 59-55
Nazareth 59, St. John Fisher 55
Nazareth stuns St. John Fisher College defeating them 59-55 after trailing most of the night. The Golden Flyers were behind most of the game and by as much as 16 points late in the first half. Nazareth took its first lead of the game at 2:48 and held on to defeat the Cardinals. Nazareth improves to 10-6 overall, 5-2 in the Empire 8. St. John Fisher falls to 13-5, 6-3.
Nazareth struggled to get started as the Cardinals built a commanding 16 point lead, 22-6 with 8:29 left in the first half. The Golden Flyers were finally able to get into a rhythm and went on a 16-5 run to pull within five points with 1:44 remaining in the first. The Cardinals scored four straight points to end the half with a 31-23 lead.
The Cardinals recorded eight blocks in the first half alone, 11 in the game.
St. John Fisher came out strong again in the second half building its lead back up to 15 points, 38-23, with 17:31 remaining. The Golden Flyers then went on a 10-2 run to pull back within five points, 38-33 with 15:24 remaining.
Lindsey Kelly started the run with back-to-back layups.
Melissa Reeves also scored three points during the run and
Hannah Runyon had a three-pointer followed by a lay-up to help push Nazareth closer.
With their scoring groove back, the Golden Flyers continued to nip at Fisher's heels and tied it up for the first time 50-50 at 4:25 off a Kelly lay-up and again at 52-52 at 3:42 after Kelly laid it in again. Nazareth took its first lead of the game at 2:48 after a defensive rebound by Kelly and a layup by
Sam Sorge to put Nazareth up 54-52.
The Cardinals took the lead again at 2:31, 55-54 off a three-point field goal by Mary Kate Cusack. But Sorge and Kelly scored the next two field goals to give Nazareth a 58-55 lead with :30 left.
Lindsey Kelly scored a free throw with :08 left for the final, 59-55. Fisher's Sydney Bloomstein did have a three-point attempt with :02 left but was not able to convert.
After shooting just 31% in the first half, Nazareth shot 60% from the field in the second half and 44% for the game. The Cardinals were just 9-of-38 in the second half for a field goal percentage of 24%.
Lindsey Kelly had a career-high 19 rebounds and also finished with 20 points for the double-double.
Veronica Peck had 11 points and went 3-for-5 from behind the arc. She also dished out five assists. Sorge finished with 10 points,
Julia Brew had eight,
Hannah Runyon had a great game off the bench with five points, Reeves had three and
Maria Allocco two to round out the scoring.
Hartwick 64, Alfred 48
Hartwick fell behind 8-2 in the first three and half minutes but rallied to outscore the host Alfred Saxons 33-10 the rest of the half in a 64-48 victory Friday night at the McLane Center. With the victory, the Hawks snap a six-game slide and improve to 5-13 overall and 3-6 in the Empire 8 Conference.
Taylor Vonasek (Willington, CT/E.O. Smith) led all scorers for the Hawks with 19 points. Kelsey Brown (Barrington, NH/Tilton School) contributed 12 points and Jacqui Foreman (Tolland, CT/Tolland) added seven points and a game-high 10 rebounds.
Alfred received 16 points and nine boards from Amanda Off. Harley Cleary was also in double figures with 10 points.
After AU jumped out to a 10-4 advantage, a 9-2 Hawks’ run handed them a 13-12 lead following an Emily Stone (Granby, CT/Granby) bucket with 11:11 left in the half. A Maddi Flint three-pointer put the Saxons back in front at 10:10, but the Hawks clamped down on defense, not allowing their opponents a point over the next seven minutes of action.
The Hawks defense forced Alfred to miss their next nine shots from the floor while scoring the next 16 points to grab a 29-15 lead. Five different players figured in the scoring during the ’Wick run led by Vonasek’s four points and the Hawks hit the locker room up 17 points, 35-18.
An 11-4 run to start the second half trimmed the gap to 10 points for the Saxons, 39-29, but a 12-4 spurt for the Hawks built the margin back up to 18 points with under 10 minutes to go. Hartwick kept at least a 16-point advantage for the rest of the game to secure the victory.
Vonasek made eight of her 14 shots on the night for the Hawks. Brown connected on three shots from beyond the three-point arc.
Stone finished the contest with eight points and a team-high five assists with Courtney Cirillo (Johnstown, NY/Johnstown) securing seven points and six rebounds. Christina Graziadei (Oriskany, NY/Oriskany) added six points and seven boards.
Hartwick made 41.7% (25-for-60) in the game. The Hawks also held a 41-32 edge on the glass. They held the Saxons to 36% (18-for-50) shooting from the floor, including just 25.9% (7-for-27) in the first half alone.
Hartwick looks to make it two in a row tomorrow as it visits Houghton College at 2 p.m.
Ithaca 104, Utica 47
The Ithaca College women's basketball team defeated the Utica Pioneers 104-47 in an Empire 8 showdown on Friday Jan. 30 in Ben Light Gymnasium. The Bombers now advance to 14-4 on the season and 8-1 in the conference.
Ithaca's 104 points marks the second highest scoring total in women's basketball program history. In 1980, the Bombers netted 105 points against St. Lawrence to set the scoring title. The last time Ithaca broke 100 points was on Nov. 18 2009, overcoming William Smith by a score of 102-81.
Tonight was also the third straight home win for Ithaca by a margin of 39 or more points.
Senior
Francesca Cotrupe started the point streak with the first layup of the game off of an offensive rebound to put the Bombers up 2-0. Utica responded with a basket to tie the score at 19:17 in the first half, which would be the only time the score would be tied all game. Ithaca never trailed in the match.
Cotrupe made two more baskets, holding all of the Bombers six points in an early 6-2 lead. Ithaca then went on to score 19 points in the next eight minutes to lead the Pioneers 25-8 with 11:17 left in the first half. The Bombers went into halftime with a 50-21 command over Utica.
All fifteen players entered tonight's contest. Fourteen women hit shots for the Bombers and nine of those athletes scored six or more points in the conference match-up. Of the 104 total points scored, 48 points came from off the Ithaca bench.
Senior
Ally Mnich led the team with a season-high nineteen points overall, netting 10 in the first half. Mnich went 7-of-10 overall and 3-for-5 from the three-point line.
Sophomore
Ali Ricchiuti earned 13 points, going 3-for-6 from behind the arc. Ricchiuti added a pair of assists and three rebounds.
Keri Steele and
Alex Gilligan each posted 10 points for the Bombers. Steele came close to a double-double with a team-high eight assists, six rebounds, two steals and a block on the night. Gilligan added six assists for Ithaca.
Cotrupe's performance earned her eight total points, in addition to seven rebounds, three steals and two blocks.
Senior
Samantha Klie and rookie
Jordan Beers both grabbed five rebounds for the Bombers. Klie tallied six points, three assists and a steal. Beers notched nine points and two assists.
Forwards
Erin Ferguson and
Annie Murray each netted six points for the Bombers. Ferguson also added six rebounds and a block for Ithaca. Murray recorded two rebounds and a steal to go along with her career high, six points.
Sophomore
Shayna Gaskins went 2-for-2 from the field to log four points, five rebounds, a steal and an assist.
Senior
Geena Brady notched three rebounds, an assist and a block for Ithaca.
Freshman
Julie Yacovoni charted all stats with five points, five rebounds, three assists, a block and a steal. Fellow freshmen
Erin Woop and
Allison Spaschak each netted a basket for the Bombers. Woop earned three assists and two rebounds, while Spaschak added an assist and steal. Rookie
Sage VanAmerongen tied a career high four points and added a rebound for the Bombers.
Ithaca shot 47.3% overall and went 7-for-11 from the free throw line. The Bombers also drilled 11-of-32 attempts from three-point range.
Stevens 69, Houghton 43
The Stevens Institute of Technology women's basketball team built a large first half lead Friday en route to a 69-43 Empire 8 Conference win over Houghton College.
The win moves Stevens (15-2) to 9-1 in conference while Houghton fell to 3-14.
Junior
Kaitlyn Astel led the Ducks with 15 points while freshman
Megan Brown added nine points and seven rebounds. Sophomore
Brittany Washington chipped-in with 12 points, and sophomore
Erica Guketlov dished-out six assists.
As a team, Stevens held the Highlanders to just 29 percent shooting from the field while forcing 26 turnovers.
The Ducks jumped out to an eight point lead midway through the half off a jumper from freshman
Sydney Darby. Houghton answered with a layup on the next possession, but an 8-2 Stevens run over the next six minutes built the lead to 14.
Stevens extended its lead to 16 three minutes later off a layup from Brown before a three pointer from sophomore
Daphne Ginn with under a minute remaining ballooned the lead to 19. Houghton mustered four more points in the half, but a layup from Ginn with eight seconds remaining put the Ducks up 19 going into the break.
The Ducks maintained their comfortable lead to start the second half, extending it to 21 with a jumper from Astel five minutes in. A free throw from Washington took the lead to 22 before a layup from junior
Megan Petuskey midway through the half brought it to 25.
Stevens built its largest lead of the game at 31 with just under six minutes remaining, and cruised the rest of the way to pick-up the blowout win.