Box Score

Oneonta, NY -- The Elmira College women's basketball team (16-9, 7-7 E8) had a tough task in front of them, needing to beat the top team in the Empire 8 conference, Hartwick College (21-4, 13-1 E8), on their home court on senior night. The Soaring Eagles were halfway to achieving their goal, leading the Hawks 29-19 at the break, but a 45-point second half from Hartwick led to a 64-55 defeat for EC. With the loss, the Purple and Gold finished in fifth place in the Empire 8 Conference, just one game out of securing the fourth and final playoff spot.

In their final regular season games for EC, Maria Thannhauser '14, Jessica Zoltowski '14, and Liz Forrest '14 did everything they could to pick up the win. Thannhauser scored a game-high 20 points on 7-of-14 shooting while Zoltowski joined her in double-figures with 14 points. Zoltowski also pulled down a game-high eight rebounds. Forrest scored seven points, grabbed three rebounds, and recorded Elmira's only block of the night.

The Soaring Eagles, feeling the importance of today's game, jumped out to a 17-5 lead just over 10 minutes into the contest. Zoltowski broke an early 3-3 tie with a layup, sparking the 14-2 run to take the 12 point lead. Karli Pochkar '16 got in on the scoring mix a few minutes later, hitting back-to-back layups, both assisted by Kelsey Geisler '15, to push EC's lead up to 15 points.

15 points would be the largest lead Elmira would have in the opening half as Hartwick began to close the gap. Five straight points from Kate Purcell made it a 10-point game and a layup from Brittney Dumas with 21 seconds left in the half brought the lead back to single-digits for the first time in nearly 10 minutes of game time. Pochkar hit one of two free throws with three seconds left in the half to give Elmira the 29-19 lead at halftime.

Hartwick came out in the second half looking like the number one team in the conference as the Hawks cut EC's lead to five just over one minute in. The Soaring Eagles would keep Hartwick at bay for as long as they could, but the Hawks just proved to be too strong as Hartwick tied the game at 36 with 13:06 left in regulation.

The Hawks would go on a mini 7-3 run to take a four point lead, a lead which they would not give up again for the rest of the contest. Hartwick would stretch their advantage out to 11 points on a couple of occasions, but EC was resilient. A layup from Thannhauser with 2:50 to play cut Elmira's deficit to five points, giving the women a chance to pull off the upset. Hartwick, however, made the plays they needed to make down the stretch to pull out the 64-55 win.

The Soaring Eagles, despite missing out on the Empire 8 tournament, will play in the postseason for the first time since the 2006-07 season. With a 16-9 overall record, the women have earned a bid into the ECAC tournament which will begin on March 5th. EC's opponent will be determined in the coming week as seeding is handed out.