Box Score

Ithaca, NY -- The Elmira College women's basketball team (15-7, 6-5 E8) cut an 18-point halftime deficit to just four points with 16 seconds remaining, but the clock became their enemy as the Soaring Eagles fell to Ithaca College (19-4, 11-1 E8) 63-57. EC's starting five accounted for all 57 of tonight's points, led by 27 points from Jessica Zoltowski '14.

Zoltowski was not the only Soaring Eagle in double-figures as Maria Thannhauser '14 joined her with 16 points. Thannhauser upped her career point total to 995, leaving her just five points shy of becoming the fifth player in EC history to reach the 1,000 point milestone. Meghan Loya '16 battled early foul trouble but still turned in eight points and four rebounds while Liz Forrest '14 set a season-high with 10 rebounds while contributing four points before fouling out. Alex Balara rounded out Elmira's scoring with two points while pulling down six boards.

This is the second game in a row that the Purple and Gold have not received much of a contribution from the bench as the reserves only chipped in two total points in Elmira's 70-64 victory over Penn Tech on Wednesday. This is also the first time since November 11, 2011 that the starting five have scored every point in a game for EC.

The Soaring Eagles did everything they could to stick with the Bombers in the first half, but Ithaca roared out to an early 17-7 lead thanks to some hot shooting from Kathryn Campbell and Geena Brady. Zoltowski scored all seven EC points through the first five minutes and was responsible for 12 of the first 16 points scored for the Purple and Gold.

Ithaca kept attacking the Elmira 2-3 zone and extended their lead to 20 points with 18 seconds left in the first half, the largest deficit EC would face in the game. A jumper as time expired by Zoltowski cut it back down to 18 as the Soaring Eagles trailed 43-25 at the break.

The Purple and Gold were much better in the second half as Thannhauser and Loya began to find their offensive rhythm. EC opened the second half on an 11-3 run to make it a 10-point game with 15:17 to play. The deficit hovered around 12 for the next eight minutes until a three-pointer by Thannhauser with 7:55 remaining made it a nine-point lead, the first time it had been under 10 points since the 9:49 mark of the first half.

Elmira would continue to trail as the clock ticked under five minutes, but the Soaring Eagles started to claw their way back into the game. EC took advantage of a couple missed front-ends of Ithaca 1-and-1's in the final minute of play to make it a four-point game, giving the Purple and Gold a chance at completing the comeback. Mary Kate Tierney missed yet another front-end of a 1-and-1 but she was able to corral her own miss, essentially ending all hope EC had of pulling off the upset. Kathryn Campbell hit two free throws with eight seconds left to give Ithaca the 63-57 victory.

The Purple and Gold shot 45 percent for the game while holding Ithaca to 41.5 percent, but the Bombers were on fire in the first half, shooting 57.7 percent, as they jumped out to the big lead. The difference in the game was free throw shooting as Elmira only attempted eight free throws compared to the 26 that Ithaca was awarded.

The Soaring Eagles will be back in action tomorrow, February 15th as Elmira takes on Nazareth College at 4:00 p.m. With a 6-5 record in Empire 8 play, tomorrow's home finale is essentially a must-win for EC as they hope to stay in the driver's seat for the fourth and final playoff spot. The five Class of 2014 members will also be recognized before tomorrow's game.