Women's Basketball | 2/22/2022 7:40:15 PM
UTICA, NY - No. 5 seed Russell Sage College advanced in the Empire 8 Conference Championship Tournament by defeating host Utica, the No. 4 seed, 72-56 this evening in the first round of the Empire 8 Conference Championship Tournament. With the win, the No. 5 seeded Gators advance to the semifinals on Friday, February 25 at top seeded St. John Fisher College. Tip off is set for 5:30 p.m.
The Gators (13-13) trailed 36-32 at the half and had an impressive second half to pull away from the host Pioneers (19-7) to move on. Utica had won both both regular season meetings.
Freshman guard
Syrita Faraj (Troy, NY/Tamarac), who was named the E8 Rookie of the Week on Monday, a candidate for the E8 Rookie of the Year, paced the team having collected a team-best 19 points and 14 rebounds. Faraj, who now has 10 double-doubles, poured in 17 second half points and 11 of her 14 boards in the second stanza. On the 2021-2022 campaign, she leads the team with her 356 points and is currently ranked 11th in single-season scoring as well.
Senior guard Sammy Pasinella
(Mechanicville, NY/Mechanicville) tallied 16 points with eight points in each half, while senior forward
Kyra Oeffler (Green Island, NY/Heatly) added a double-double as well on 11 points with 10 rebounds, marking her sixth double-double of the season. Pasinella added five assists to go with her pair of three-point baskets.
Senior guard
Meghan Murray (Watervliet, NY/Watervliet) netted 15 points as well for the Gators as they also got seven points and five assists from rookie guard
Lauren Sanderson (Ravena, NY/RCS).
Utica, the four seed, (19-7), had the lead to open the third quarter. Up by four to open the third quarter, RSC was able to overtake Utica at the 5:34 mark with a jumper by Pasinella (41-40) and never looked back as they watched their lead continue to grow over the rest of the second stanza.
The Pioneers received a double-double from Brigid Johndrow as she had 15 points with 10 rebounds. She had nine defensive boards with eight second half points. After leading all players with 12 first-half points, Petrina DeMarco, was held scoreless the rest of the way by the Gators as they held Utica to 20 second-half points and 20.6% shooting performance. Additionally, RSC held Utica to no second-half three-pointers as they were 0-9 from long distance.
Russell Sage now plays at top-seeded and No. 22 ranked St. John Fisher in Friday's E8 Semifinal. The Empire 8 Semifinals take place at St. John Fisher, February 25-26 with the E8 champion garnering the league’s automatic qualifier to the 2022 NCAA Division III Tournament.
St. John Fisher won both regular season meetings versus Russell Sage, 62-52 on Jan. 7 and 98-63 at Manning Napier Varsity Gym on Feb. 6.
2021-22 Empire 8 Women's Basketball Championship Schedule
Tuesday, February 22 – First Round (at Higher Seed)
No. 5 Russell Sage defeated No. 4 Utica College, 72-56 – BOX SCORE
Friday, February 25 – Semifinals (at St. John Fisher)
No. 5 Russell Sage at No. 1 St. John Fisher – 5:30 p.m. – STATS/VIDEO
No. 3 Nazareth vs. No. 2 Hartwick - 7:30 p.m. – STATS/VIDEO
Saturday, February 26 - Championship Final (at St. John Fisher)
Winner of Semifinal #1 vs. Winner of Semifinal #2 - 3 p.m. – STATS/VIDEO