Women's Basketball | 2/10/2023 9:43:00 PM
ALFRED, NY – The Alfred University women's basketball team have clinched a berth in the Empire 8 Tournament following a 61-50 win over Utica University on Friday night from the Terry S. Galanis Family Arena.
Leah Harkenrider (Hornell, NY/Hornell) set a single game school record for the Saxons (13-9, 8-8 Empire 8), making eight shots from 3-point range. Harkenrider finished the game with a career-high 28 points to go with three rebounds, one assist and one steal.
Allison O'Toole (Simi Valley, CA/Simi Valley) enjoyed a historic night of her own, totaling a career-high 10 assists to go with seven points and eight rebounds. O'Toole now ranks eighth in program history with 223 career assists.
"I'm so proud of this group," Head Coach
Mike Moskowitz said. "We've battled some adversity recently, including some illness going through most of our players the last few days. Even tonight, we had some key pieces in foul trouble and had people carry a lot of extra minutes and others step up and fill some others as well. I am pleased with how they've stuck together and been able to get back on track through some ups and downs. Tonight certainly wasn't pretty, but we know the battles with Utica will always be like that. Our cuts and ball movement in the second quarter carried over to the second half and led to some nice looks. Allison was great facilitating the offense finding those cutters and shooters spaced for a career-high 10 assists. Grace had some really timely help on the defensive end that allowed us to get out and push the ball in transition. I can't speak enough about Leah's performance. Unbelievable. She puts in so much work on her game and we're all so happy for her."
The Pioneers (9-12, 4-10 Empire 8) set the tone early in the first quarter, jumping out to a 9-3 lead over the Saxons. Both
Gillian Flint (Caledonia, NY/Caledonia-Mumford) and
Leah Harkenrider (Wellsville, NY/Wellsville) scored from deep, but Alfred University still trailed 12-9 going into the second quarter. Rittenhouse found an open 3-point shot to tie the game in the early moments of the second quarter. Moments later, a layup from O'Toole was followed by a 3-point shot from Harkenrider to give the Saxons their first lead of the evening. Utica was able to crawl their way back into the game, as the score was tied 22-22 going into the break.
The Pioneers extended their lead by as many as eight points early in the third quarter. Harkenrider scored a team-high 14 points in the quarter, but the Saxons still trailed 43-42 entering the fourth quarter.
The Saxons relied on back-to-back 3-point shots from Harkenrider to take back the lead. Three additional shots from beyond the arc extended AU's lead to 11 points with under a minute to play. Lockdown defense from the Saxons was enough to secure the win and clinch a berth in the Empire 8 Tournament.
"We're excited to keep on moving forward and prepare for Keuka in the morning," Moskowitz said.
Alfred University will next return to action tomorrow to face Keuka College at 2:00 p.m.
ABOUT THE EMPIRE 8 CONFERENCE
The members of the Empire 8 Conference are committed first and foremost to the pursuit of academic excellence and the league is regarded as an outstanding NCAA Division III conference. The membership has distinguished itself among its peer group for its quality institutions, spirited and sportsmanlike competition, outstanding services and highly ethical policies and practices. Its commitment to serve the educational needs of its student-athletes is the hallmark of the E8. For more on the Empire 8 visit
www.empire8.com.
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