Women's Basketball | 2/24/2023 10:58:20 PM
Top-seeded St. John Fisher University and No. 2 Nazareth College advanced to the 2022-23 Empire 8 Women's Basketball Tournament Championship game after earning semifinal victories on Friday, February 24. St. John Fisher defeated No. 5 Elmira College, 67-41 in the opening semifinal, while Nazareth held on to defeat No. 3 seed Russell Sage College, 75-71.
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 2023 NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship Tournament. The Cardinals are looking to make it back-to-back E8 titles after defeating the Golden Flyers in last season's title game and win their seventh league title overall. The Golden Flyers are looking to win their second E8 title in the last three seasons.
St. John Fisher won both previous meetings earlier this season, 84-66 at home on Jan. 24 and rallied late to win 78-68 at Nazareth on Feb. 11
NO. 1 ST. JOHN FISHER 67, NO. 5 ELMIRA 41
The nationally-ranked and top-seeded Cardinals defeated the visiting fifth-seeded Elmira College Soaring Eagles, 67-41. With the win, Fisher, which is receiving votes in the latest D3hoops.com poll, improved to 24-2 on the year while the Soaring Eagles, who advanced to the E8 Tournament for the first time since 2006-07, had their season conclude at 14-11.
The Cardinals used a 36-16 run over the second third quarters to pull away.
Kaitlyn Walker scored 17 points, added 13 rebounds, and two steals to lead the Cardinals. Brunner chipped in with 14 points, three assists, and two rebounds. Tomasso collected seven rebounds, five assists, and six points. Katie Moravec added 12 points, six steals, and four rebounds.
Nevaeh Winston led the Soaring Eagles in scoring with 15 points, while All-Empire 8 first team selection Desiree Roy pulled down 12 boards.
NO. 2 NAZARETH 75, NO. 3 RUSSELL SAGE 71
Freshman
Katie MacLachlan drilled a critical 3-pointer with 1:15 remaining to give Nazareth a 5-point lead and the second-seeded Golden Flyers held on for a 75-71 victory over No. 3 Sage on Friday night.
With the win, Nazareth is now 19-7 overall, while Sage drops to 16-10. The 19 wins for the season are the most since 1999-2000, when the Golden Flyers went 19-9.
Jadyn Abrams led the way with 18 points, including going 10-for-14 from the free throw line, several of those coming down the stretch. Freshman
Kiara Anglin had a career-high 17 points on an efficient 7-for-10 from the floor.
Graduate student
Caley Cornwell drilled a triple at the 6:03 mark of the fourth, making it 64-53 in favor of the Flyers. That was Nazareth's largest lead of the game.
The Gators, however, were able to pry into the lead, eventually pulling ahead 65-64 on a 3-pointer with 2:22 to play.
Abrams made a layup on the ensuing possession to give the Golden Flyers the lead for good. That was followed up by a MacLachlan steal and two made free throws for a 68-65 margin.
Following 1-of-2 free throws on the other end, MacLachlan buried the ever-important 3-poitner which proved to be the turning point at 71-66 with 1:15 on the clock. The Gators would come no closer than four points down the stretch. MacLachlan ended with 15 points on 5-for-9 from the floor, to go along with five rebounds.
The Golden Flyers had a great opening quarter, going 10-for-17 (59 percent) and leading by as many as 10 points at 20-10, with just over 1:30 to play. The Gators were able to close the gap to 23-17 heading to the second.
Sage clawed to within 35-34 with under two minutes left in the half. Nazareth was 70 percent (7-for-10) in the second but that only amounted to a 42-39 halftime lead.
The Gators took their first lead since 8:40 in the first half, when Guiliana Pritchard buried a pair of free throws with just under four minutes left in the third to make it 48-47. Nazareth scored the last seven points of the quarter.
Syrita Faraj, the 2022-23 Empire 8 Player of the Year, led all scorers with 23 points and 10 boards for Russell Sage. Pritchard added 18 points for the Gators.
2022-23 Empire 8 Women's Basketball Championship Schedule
Tuesday, February 21 – First Round (at Higher Seed)
No. 3 Russell Sage defeated No. 6 Alfred, 71-46 – BOX SCORE
No. 5 Elmira defeated No. 4 Houghton, 65-58 – BOX SCORE
Friday, February 24 – Semifinals (at St. John Fisher)
No. 1 St. John Fisher defeated No. 5 Elmira, 67-41 – BOX SCORE
No. 2 Nazareth defeated No. 3 Russell Sage, 75-71 – BOX SCORE
Saturday, February 25 - Championship Final (at St. John Fisher)
No. 2 Nazareth at No. 1 St. John Fisher - 3 p.m. – VIDEO/LIVE STATS
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