Nazareth, Ithaca, Stevens post wins
Nazareth 66, Houghton 52
Nazareth used a 14-0 scoring run to pull away from visiting Houghton in a women's Empire 8 basketball contest on Tuesday evening. The Golden Flyers held the Highlanders without a point for 7:31 of the second half, leading to the 66-52 victory. Nazareth had 10 different players score for its balanced scoring attack.
Lindsey Kelly had a team-high 14 points, and she stands only 12 points away from 1,000 career points.
With the victory, the Golden Flyers improve to 11-7 overall and 6-3 in Empire 8 games. After the loss, the Highlanders drop to 4-15 overall and 1-10 in conference games. Following Tuesday's game, Nazareth stands in fourth in the Empire 8 standings. Stevens and Ithaca hold the top two slots at 10-1 in conference games. St. John Fisher is in third at 7-3, followed by the Golden Flyers at 6-3. Utica stands in fifth at 5-7. The top four teams meet in the conference tournament at the end of February.
After trailing 10-4 in the opening minutes of the contest, the Golden Flyers took a 24-17 lead following a pair of three pointers by junior
Sam Sorge. The seven-point lead was Nazareth's largest advantage of the period. The 20-7 run, which lasted roughly seven minutes, was ignited by a shot from outside the arc by junior
Kelly Broderick. The Golden Flyers used a balanced scoring attack during the first half, which was also relied on during the scoring run, with six different players recording points. Following Broderick's three, senior
Maria Allocco made a layup, and freshman
Samantha Peebles connected on a three-pointer. Senior
Melissa Reeves scored the next two points with a pair of free throws before Kelly scored on a pair of layups.
Nazareth settled for a 33-33 tie at the end of the first half following a two-point jumper by Houghton's Christel Enriquez, who scored before the buzzer sounded. The bucket capped a 10-4 scoring run for the Highlanders in the final four minutes of the period.
Similar to the first half, Nazareth built a seven-point lead, 44-37, before Houghton tied the game at 48 points apiece. Senior
Hannah Runyon broke the tie with a layup in the final seconds of the shot clock. Runyon's driving layup started the Golden Flyers' decisive 14-0 scoring run. Sorge followed Runyon's basket with a layup in transition, then junior
Veronica Peck and Kelly stretched the Golden Flyers' lead to nine points with a three-pointer and layup on another set of consecutive Nazareth possessions. Kelly's bucket gave the Golden Flyers the 57-48 lead with just over five minutes remaining in regulation. A couple of minutes later, Peck's second three-pointer of the game provided Nazareth its first double-digit lead.
In addition to the points from Kelly, Peck and Sorge each finished with 10 points. Allocco and Peebles added eight points and seven points, respectively. Nazareth connected on over 47 percent (7-15) of its three-point attempts, including 3-5 (60 percent) in the second half. Kelly collected eight rebounds to lead the team. Houghton finished with a 40-32 advantage in total rebounds.
Hannah Fink amassed a game-high 19 points for the Highlanders. Enriquez finished with the game's lone double-double, recording 13 points and 13 rebounds.
Ithaca 86, Alfred 48
The Ithaca College women's basketball team improved to 16-4 overall and 10-1 in the Empire 8 Conference with a convincing 86-48 victory at Alfred on Tuesday evening. Fourteen players on Ithaca's roster saw at least five minutes of action.
Thirteen Bombers scored at least one point and grabbed a rebound, while 12 picked up more than one assist.
Ithaca cracked the scoreboard first just 1:24 into the contest and never trailed Alfred. The Saxons would tie the game up nearly a minute later, but the Bombers quickly went on a 10-0 run in a span of 1:19, which was highlighted by seven points from sophomore
Ali Ricchiuti.
Ricchiuti notched a team-high-tying 15 points to go along with six rebounds and four assists.
Alfred pulled to within seven points by the 9:23 mark, 20-13, only to watch Ithaca put together another run, this time 8-3, to take a 28-13 advantage with 7:19 remaining. Sophomore
Erin Ferguson tallied five of her 11 points during this stretch.
Ferguson made all five of her field goal attempts on Tuesday and pulled down five rebounds in 14 minutes.
The Saxons scored four unanswered points to cut their deficit back to single digits, 28-19, with 6:25 to go, but that was the closest they would get for the remainder of the conference tilt. Ithaca would close out the half scoring 12 of the final 14 points to take a 40-21 cushion into the locker room.
In the second half, Ithaca built up a 31-point margin by the 14:43 mark. The Bombers maintained at least a 30-point difference for the rest of the game, with the exception of 27 seconds. Ithaca reached its largest lead of the contest, 77-35, with 8:35 remaining on a three-pointer from freshman
Allison Spaschak.
Junior
Keri Steele also poured in 15 points on 5-of-6 shooting, including 4-of-5 from distance, to go along with two assists. Senior
Francesca Cotrupe snared 10 rebounds (seven offensive) and added six points. Sophomore
Alex Gilligan tallied nine points on three makes from beyond the arc with three assists, while freshman
Jordan Beers chipped in eight points and three assists.
Spaschak and sophomore
Shayna Gaskins both notched five points, while freshman
Annie Murray tallied four points. Freshman
Julie Yacovoni contributed five rebounds and three assists for Ithaca.
The Bombers shot 45.1-percent from the field (32-for-71) and 43.5-percent from three-point range (10-for-23). Ithaca grabbed 50 rebounds and assisted on 26 baskets. Of the 86 points scored on the night, 45 came from the bench, and 48 were scored in the paint.
Alfred was held to 18-of-61 shooting (29.5-percent) and forced into 17 turnovers.
Stevens 78, Lehman 63
The Stevens Institute of Technology women's basketball team won its third straight game by double-digits Tuesday in a 78-63 non-conference victory over Lehman College.
The win moved Stevens' record to 17-2 while Lehman fell to 14-7. The Ducks have won 17 of their last 18 games.
Junior
Kaitlyn Astel led Stevens with 16 points, six steals and six rebounds while junior
Miranda Ripken finished with 11 points and five steals. Junior
Dylan Krause chipped-in with 11 points and three rebounds, and sophomore
Brittany Washington scored eight points to go along with six rebounds.
As a team, the Ducks recorded a season-high 19 steals and forced 26 Lehman turnovers.
After building a two point lead over the first five minutes, the Ducks extended it to seven off a three from Ripken and a jumper from Astel. Lehman was able to get to get within four with nine minutes to go, but a pair of field goals on consecutive possessions from Astel and sophomore
Brittany Washington over the next minute extended the Ducks lead to eight.
Stevens maintained at least a five point lead over the next eight minutes before extending it to nine off an Astel jumper with 43 seconds remaining. Lehman responded with four points off free throws, but a layup from Washington with seven seconds remaining sent the Ducks into the break up seven.
Stevens maintained the lead through the first three minutes before an 8-0 run extended it 14 with 14 minutes to go. A pair of free throws from freshman
Megan Brown brought the lead to 18 before a layup from Washington gave the Ducks their largest lead of the game at 20.
Lehman failed to make any significant comeback as the Ducks extended the lead to 21 with five minutes remaining after a pair of free throws from freshman
Sydney Darby. A 7-0 run from Lehman brought the Lightning to within 13 with one minute remaining, but it's as close as they would get the rest of the night.