Elmira, NY – The Elmira College Women's Basketball team fell to visiting Stevens Institute of Technology, 76-59, Saturday afternoon at Speidel Gymnasium. The win improves the Ducks to 5-6 overall and 2-0 in the Empire 8, while the loss drops the Soaring Eagles to 3-9 and 0-2 in conference play.

Stevens got off to a quick 11-3 start, but EC went on a 21-9 run to take the lead at 24-20 after a Kelsey Geisler '15 (Staten Island, NY -- St. Peter's) lay-up at the 8:24 mark. The Ducks outscored the Soaring Eagles 22-6 the remainder of the half to take a 42-30 advantage into intermission. Jessica Zoltowski '14 (Erie, PA -- Harbor Creek) paced Elmira with 14 points in the opening 20 minutes, while Jillian Barrett and Dawn Garcia led Stevens with 12 and 10 points, respectively.

EC dug deep and was only outscored by five in the second half but was unable to mount any runs to threaten the visiting Ducks. Elmira shot 36 percent from the field in the game, while Stevens nailed 47 percent of its shots. The decisive stat of the game came on the glass, where Stevens owned a 49-29 advantage.

Zoltowski led Elmira with 18 points and Alex Balara '15 (Marlton, NJ -- Gloucester Catholic) had a breakout game tallying 14 points, five steals, two assists and no turnovers. Tempestt Black '14 (Wolcott, NY -- North-Rose Wolcott) contributed a strong game off the bench with four points on 50 percent shooting and seven rebounds. Jillian Barrett led all players in points and rebounds as she finished with a double-double on 21 points and 14 boards. Dawn Garcia added 19 points and six rebounds for Stevens, while Avis Benjamin registered 12 in the scoring column.

EC returns to action Tuesday when they travel to Penn College for a 7:00 p.m. tip-off.