By: St. John Fisher Athletics
PITTSFORD, NY – The St. John Fisher College women's basketball team moved one step closer to clinching the top overall seed and the right to host the Empire 8 Championship later this month as the Cardinals came out on top of The Sage Colleges, 69-57, on Friday evening inside Manning and Napier Varsity Gymnasium on Bobby Wanzer Court. With the win, Fisher, which has now posted a victory in four consecutive games, improved to 17-6 on the year and pushed its conference mark to 10-2 overall. The Gators closed out the day at 12-11 and 8-4, respectively.
Sophomore Amy Gardner exploded for a career-high 28 points in the win as the guard went 12-for-18 from the floor. Gardner tallied a team-high four steals on the night and was credited with three rebounds and three assists in 37 minutes. Miranda Lynch finished with 17 points and knocked down four from behind the arc while Mallory Wood added eight points and four boards on the night.
After holding a nine-point cushion following the first half of play, Fisher quickly ran the lead to 15 in the third period after Lynch and Gardner connected on back-to-back 3-pointers to make it 42-27. From there, the Gators would pull to within eight points following a 9-2 run that included seven unanswered points. As the quarter continued to tick down, Fisher would push its lead back to double figures when Wood found nylon on a pair of free throws with eight seconds remaining, but Sage pushed the ball up the court and closed out the quarter with a final-second lay-up to make it 50-42 leading into the final frame.
As the fourth quarter got underway, Sage would cut the gap to six points with three minutes gone by, but that was as close as the visitors would get as Fisher took over and scored nine of the game's next 11 points to hold a 16-point advantage before the final horn sounded.
Overall, Fisher was firing on all cylinders on the defensive end of the floor as the Cardinals forced Sage in to 24 turnovers on the night and held the Gators to scoreless from downtown.
With just two games remaining before the Conference Championship, the Cardinals are right back to work at 4 p.m. on Saturday as they welcome Utica College to Manning and Napier Varsity Gymnasium for another pivotal Empire 8 bout on Bobby Wanzer Court. A win would secure Fisher its second Empire 8 Regular Season Championship in the last three seasons.