Women's Basketball | 2/25/2022 11:00:04 PM
Top-seeded St. John Fisher College and No. 3 Nazareth College advanced to the 2021-22 Empire 8 Women's Basketball Tournament Championship game after earning semifinal victories on Friday, February 25. St. John Fisher defeated No. 5 Russell Sage College, 69-59 in the opening semifinal, while Nazareth knocked off No. 2 seed Hartwick College at the buzzer, 70-68.
Nazareth and St. John Fisher will meet at 3 p.m.on Saturday afternoon for the Empire 8 Championship, with the winner earning an automatic berth into the 2022 NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship Tournament. The Golden Flyers are looking to make it back-to-back E8 titles after defeating the Cardinals in last season's title game. The Cardinals are looking to win their sixth E8 title in program history and are in the league championship game for the fifth straight season.
St. John Fisher won both previous meetings earlier this season, 78-73 at home on Jan. 29 and 64-42 at Nazareth on Feb. 8
NO. 1 ST. JOHN FISHER 69, NO. 5 RUSSELL SAGE 59
The nationally-ranked and top-seeded St. John Fisher College defeated the visiting fifth-seeded Russell Sage Gators, 69-59. With the win, Fisher, which is ranked 22nd in the latest D3hoops.com poll, improved to 24-2 on the year while the Gators had their season conclude at 13-14.
After shaking off a slow start, the Cardinals were able to narrow the gap heading into the second period as the Gators held an 18-14 edge after the first 10 minutes of play. Trailing by four to begin the period, the Cardinals continued to chip away until momentum swung in their favor with an 11-2 run over a span of 2:26 to claim a 30-27 lead with under three minutes to go in the half.
Holding a one-possession advantage, the Cardinals went 0-for-5 down the stretch with the Gators closing out the first half with six unanswered points to hold a 33-30 margin at halftime.
Coming out of the break, Fisher buried back-to-back 3-pointers as part of an 8-0 run to jump in front, 43-38. From there, a deep three by
Miranda Lynch gave the home team a seven-point edge before the Gators rattled off five unanswered points to pull to within three, 50-47, with 1:23 still showing on the clock.
With the fourth quarter looming, Fisher closed out the third with five straight points of its own and carried its momentum over into the final frame after building a 13-point cushion with five minutes having ticked by.
With time winding down and the Cardinals holding a double-digit lead, the Gators would cut the deficit to nine with two minutes to play, but were unable to inch closer as Fisher controlled the pace down the stretch to punch its ticket to Saturday's championship game.
Junior
Kaitlyn Walker finished with a game-high 17 points to go along with 14 rebounds while
Sidney Tomasso scored 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting paired with nine boards of her own.
Katie Moravec poured in 10 points off the bench while
Leah Koonmen produced seven points and three boards in 23 minutes.
Amy Gardner, who was named the Empire 8 Defensive Player of the Year on Wednesday, contributed five points, six assists, three rebounds and a season-high seven steals.
Syrita Faraj, the Empire 8 Rookie of the Year, finished with 16 points and seven boards for Russell Sage.
NO. 2 NAZARETH 70, NO. 2 HARTWICK 68
Graduate student
Sabrina Wolfe hit a jumper from the elbow as time expired to lift the Nazareth College to a dramatic 70-68 victory over Hartwick.
Nazareth held a late lead but a 3-pointer by Hartwick's Maggie Kirby (18-7) with 14.1 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter tied the game at 68-68. The basket put Kirby over the 1,000-point plateau for her collegiate career.
After a Nazareth timeout, senior Jadyn Abrams tossed an inbounds pass to Miyah Sizer who then found Wolfe near the 3-point line. Wolfe made a move to the middle of the court and dribbled into the lane before taking a jumper from 15 feet out that bounced off the rim and in as time expired for the game-winning basket.
Wolfe finished with a team-leading 19 points and Abrams added 18. Wolfe scored eight points and Abrams seven points in the final quarter. Nazareth built a lead of six points late in the period as senior Caley Cornwell hit a layup to give the Golden Flyers a 66-60 edge.
A three-point play for the Hawks trimmed the lead in half but senior Kim Davis scored with 36 seconds left to put Nazareth up 68-63. Hartwick answered with a layup and then after a Nazareth turnover, hit the 3-pointer to knot the game at 68-68.
Nazareth led 15-12 after the first quarter as Wolfe led the way with six early points and the Golden Flyers took a slim 29-27 lead into the halftime intermission. At the break Sizer led Nazareth with nine points and Wolfe had eight.
In the third quarter Hartwick surged ahead and led by as many as eight but a 3-pointer by Abrams and a layup by freshman Madilann Johnson as the buzzer sounded tied the game at 46-46 as the quarter ended.
Sizer finished with 11 points and Cornwell added nine while Davis grabbed a team-leading 12 rebounds and added four blocked shots. Wolfe had five assists and Sizer added four assists and three steals.
Maggie Kirby led Hartwick with game-high totals of 23 points and 13 boards, while Giuliana Pritchard had 18 points and seven rebounds.
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. 1 St. John Fisher defeats No. 5 Russell Sage, 69-59 – BOX SCORE
No. 3 Nazareth defeated No. 2 Hartwick, 70-68 – BOX SCORE
Saturday, February 26 - Championship Final (at St. John Fisher)
No. 3 Nazareth at No. 1 St. John Fisher - 3 p.m. – STATS/VIDEO