Stevens Advances To E8 Championship
HOBOKEN, N.J. (February 26, 2016) – The Stevens Institute of Technology women's basketball team advanced to the Empire 8 Conference Championship with a 76-61 victory over Nazareth College Friday.
The Ducks moved to 20-6, will take on No. 3 Ithaca College at 4 p.m. Saturday in Canavan Arena. The Bombers came away with a 69-65 win over St. John Fisher College in the other semifinal.
Nazareth closes out the season with an 18-8 record under first year head coach
Kelly Dunne.
The Golden Flyers staked themselves to an early 16-8 lead, capped off with a three-pointer from Julia Brew and a layup from Colby McCartney. The Ducks would even things up with a 6-0 run, as sophomore
Megan Brown poured in five points off the bench during the stretch. Naz would go up four late in the first, but senior
Miranda Ripken nailed a jumper and classmate
Kaitlyn Astel hit a layup to tie the contest.
The Ducks tallied the first four markers of the second stanza, with junior
Erica Guketlov and Ripken hitting consecutive jumpers. Brown would nail a layup with 5:13 left in the half to give Stevens its biggest edge of the opening half, moving the score to five points. Naz would get a layup from Lindsey Kelly with 26 seconds left in the half to grab a single point edge heading into the break.
Kelly gave the Ducks fits in the first half, scoring 18 points and pulling down eight boards. Brown had 13 points to lead Stevens through 20 minutes.
Stevens opened the second half much like they did the first time these teams met, on fire. The Ducks opened the second half with an 8-0 spurt, capped off with a layup by sophomore
Anna Toke. The Golden Flyers hung around, and even grabbed the lead back at 47-46, but a 13-2 run by the hosts put the lead at double digits heading into the final quarter.
The Ducks outscored Naz 17-12 in the fourth, and 40-24 in the second half which proved to be the difference. Kelly, who was so dominant in the first, was held to just two points and three rebounds in the second half.
Astel continued her recent hot streak, pouring in 19 points while Ripken added 14 and eight key rebounds. Brown was a force off the bench, chipping in 19 and seven rebounds. Guketlov had nine points, five rebounds, five assists and most importantly, one turnover.
Kelly led all scorers with 20 and 11 rebounds, while Brew had 12 points. Sam Sorge had 10 points and five rebounds in the setback.