Elmira, NY -- The Elmira College women's basketball team fell to 0-2 in Empire 8 Conference play after dropping a 67-53 decision to St. John Fisher College. The Soaring Eagles were led by
Danielle Cleary '18, who scored 15 points while playing a team-high 37 minutes.
EC came out strong in the opening minutes of the first half, leading at 4-2, 5-4, and 7-4, but a three-pointer from St. John Fisher's Emily Piacentini evened the score at seven and kicked-off a 10-0 run that put the Cardinals on top 14-7 at the 10:44 mark of the first half. The Soaring Eagles answered with consecutive baskets to cut their deficit to just three points, 14-11, but that would be as close as they would get in the opening half as St. John Fisher's full-court pressure sparked a 16-3 run over the next eight minutes that broke open a 30-14 game with 2:16 on the clock. The Purple and Gold got a bit more going on offense over the final two minutes, but still trailed 35-20 at the break.
Trailing by 15 after 20 minutes of play, the Soaring Eagles opened the second half looking to make a run and get back into the game. EC was able to cut their deficit to 11 points after a
Makinsey Carolus '18 layup with 15:35 left in regulation, but St. John Fisher responded with a 7-0 run to push it to an 18-point advantage, the largest lead of the game. The Cardinals continued to hold a double-digit advantage over the Soaring Eagles but EC made it interesting as the clock ticked under five minutes to play. Elmira, trailing 60-45, used a mini 5-0 run to cut their deficit to 10 points with 2:28 left, but the St. John Fisher never let the Purple and Gold any closer, leading to the 67-53 victory.
The Purple and Gold were led offensively by Cleary, who was one of two EC players with double-figures in the scoring column. Cleary notched her seventh double-digit scoring game of the season with her 15 points. Behind Cleary was
Alex Balara '15, who scored 10 points, grabbed seven rebounds, and recorded two steals despite battling foul trouble throughout the game. Defensively,
Meghan Loya '16 and
Karli Pochkar '16 each tallied a game-high nine rebounds and Loya also recorded two blocks and two steals.
The Soaring Eagles return to action on Tuesday, January 6th when they travel to take on Alfred University at 6:00 p.m.
