By: St. John Fisher Athletics
PITTSFORD, NY – For the second time in the last three years, the St. John Fisher College women's basketball team clinched the Empire 8 Regular Season Championship after the Cardinals beat Utica College, 69-65, on Saturday afternoon inside Manning and Napier Varsity Gymnasium on Bobby Wanzer Court. With the win, Fisher, which has now earned the right to host the upcoming Empire 8 Championship, improved to 18-6 on the year and 11-2 in the conference standings while the Pioneers slipped to 14-9 and 7-5 against conference opposition.
After a slow first quarter of play, the Cardinals found their groove as the second period got underway when Amy Gardner buried a 3-pointer on the wing on a feed from Leah Koonmen that sparked a 9-2 run.
Leading 21-16 with nearly four minutes having ticked off the clock, the Cardinals continued to pour it on and used an 11-3 run over the final five minutes of play to take a 32-23 lead into the locker room at halftime.
As the third quarter got underway, Fisher's lead would shrink to four points after the Pioneers pulled to within 46-42 with under two minutes to go, but the Cardinals rebounded and pushed their cushion back to nine points leading into the final frame.
The Cardinals' lead would swell to as many as 12 points in the fourth quarter, 66-54, but the tides changed in a hurry as Utica scored 11 of the game's next 12 points in a stretch of just 65 seconds to make it a two-point affair. Ahead by one possession, Gardner went to the line and knocked down both free throws to stake the home team to a four-point edge. The Pioneers called a timeout to regroup and draw up one final play, but the Cardinals' defense stood tall and disrupted the Pioneers' plans as the final horn sounded.
Ella Eckert led the way for Fisher with her eighth double-double of the year. The sophomore finished with 17 points and a career-high 16 rebounds while Miranda Lynch netted 15 points and had seven rebounds in the win. Gardner, who scored a career-high on Friday, added 14 points and a pair of assists while Koonmen provided 10 points off the bench.
The Cardinals will close out the regular season at 4 p.m. on Saturday against Nazareth College in the second edition of the Battle of the Beaks inside Manning and Napier Varsity Gymnasium on Bobby Wanzer Court. The game will also coincide with Senior Day.