Elmira, NY -- The Elmira College women's basketball team snapped their three-game losing streak with a wire-to-wire, 88-66, victory over Penn College. EC had four players in double-figures, with Danielle Cleary '18 and Alex Balara '15 each recording 20-point games.
 
Cleary led the Soaring Eagles with 28 points and secured her first career double-double with 10 rebounds. She also added four assists, two steals, and a block in the victory. Balara filled the stat sheet in the win over the Wildcats, scoring 25 points, grabbing seven rebounds, handing out seven assists, tallying seven steals, as well as notching two blocks.
 
Also in double-figures were Karli Pochkar '16 and Meghan Loya '16 who each recorded 14 points. Pochkar battled foul trouble, but still managed to add six rebounds, one assist, and one block to her overall statistics. Loya was a beast on the boards, pulling down a team-high 12 rebounds to notch her second double-double of the season. She also recorded three blocks and two steals defensively.
 
Not to be forgotten is the point guard tandem of Kelsey Geisler '15 and Allie Olsen '16. The duo combined for just three points, two from Geisler and one from Olsen, but they were highly efficient, a combined 11-5 assist-to-turnover ratio, and helped get the ball to open shooters all game long. Geisler tallied six assists as well as three steals, while Olsen had five assists and also a block.
 
The Soaring Eagles controlled the game from the opening tip, scoring the first eight points while holding the Wildcats scoreless for the first four minutes of the game. Penn College used a 9-4 run to make it a 12-9 game, but EC used a 6-0 run of their own to stretch their lead out to nine points. Elmira maintained their advantage, but a cold stretch offensively allowed the Wildcats to again close the gap to three points, 21-18, with 7:32 left in the first half.
 
Similar to the first time Penn College made it a three-point game, the Purple and Gold responded with a 6-0 run that again made it a nine-point advantage. EC continued to push the envelope, extending their lead into double-digits on several occasions. Penn College had cut it to 37-29 with just over a minute to play, but Cleary hit a three-pointer with just three seconds remaining to give Elmira a 40-29 halftime advantage.
 
Penn College scored the first basket of the second half, but the Soaring Eagles used a 9-0 run to break open an 18-point lead, their largest of the game at the time. The Wildcats chipped away at their deficit for the next five minutes, making it a nine-point game with 11:05 to play. The single-digit deficit was short-lived, however, as Balara hit back-to-back three-pointers to push EC's lead back to 15.
 
Elmira led comfortably for much of the next seven-plus minutes, but Penn College again made it a nine-point game with 4:22 on the clock. That, again, was only temporary as the Soaring Eagles took control of the game with what would end up being an 18-5 run over the final four-plus minutes of the contest. Sparking that run was Cleary, who scored 11 straight points for the Purple and Gold in a two-minute span to eliminate any hope of a Wildcat comeback. The Soaring Eagles would go into cruise control over the final two minutes of regulation, sealing their 88-66 victory.
 
EC returns to action this weekend when they host a pair of Empire 8 Conference opponents. Elmira first welcomes Stevens Tech to Speidel Gymnasium on Friday, February 13th for a 6:00 p.m. game.