Elmira College (3-10, 0-4 Empire 8) vs. Utica College (6-6, 1-2 Empire 8)
Friday, January 15, 2016 | 8:00 P.M. | Clark Athletic Center – Utica, NY
Live Coverage | Game Notes
 
Elmira College (3-10, 0-4 Empire 8) vs. Hartwick College (4-7, 2-1 Empire 8)
Saturday, January 16, 2016 | 4:00 P.M. | Lambros Arena – Oneonta, NY
Live Coverage | Game Notes

Elmira, NY -- The Elmira College women's basketball continues its four-game road swing with a pair of Empire 8 Conference matchups this weekend. The Soaring Eagles take on Utica College on Friday, January 15th at 8:00 p.m. before heading to Oneonta, NY, to battle the Hawks of Hartwick College on Saturday, January 16th at 4:00 p.m.

Last Time Out
The Soaring Eagles opened the road trip with a visit to Ithaca College's Ben Light Gymnasium, where the Bombers handed EC a 90-56 loss. Danielle Cleary '18 and Rachel Vespucci '19 each scored a game-high 16 points for Elmira, while the duo also combined for 17 rebounds. Ithaca's offense was spurred by the three-point shot, as the Bombers finished 10-for-23 (43.5 percent) from downtown. The 10 made treys are the most EC has surrendered in a game this season.

Seeking First E8 Win
EC will look to snap its four-game losing streak inside the Empire 8 and earn its first conference victory on Friday versus Utica. The Soaring Eagles are one of three teams entering the weekend with an 0-4 mark inside the E8, joining Alfred University (1-12 overall) and Houghton College (6-7 overall). The last time the Purple and Gold opened the conference slate winless in the first four games was the 2010-11 season, when Elmira started with five consecutive E8 losses.

Our Ladies of Mercy
Former high school teammates Cleary and Vespucci have paced the Soaring Eagles since the start of the New Year. In the four games of 2016, Cleary is averaging 13.5 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. She scored 17 points against Nazareth on January 9th and 16 against Ithaca on Tuesday, marking the first time she registered double-digit points in back-to-back games since December 1-3. Vespucci is averaging 10.3 points and 4.8 boards per game in 2016, and continues to see her game grow as head coach Shannon Howley increases her playing time. In the last three games, the Macedon, NY, native has logged over 28.0 minutes per game, including her first collegiate start at Ithaca. Vespucci's 16 points and eight rebounds against the Bombers are both career highs. Before coming to EC, the two last played together for Our Lady of Mercy School for Young Women in Rochester, NY, helping the Monarchs reach the 2013-14 Section V Class A Championship Game.

Loya Closes In
Meghan Loya '16 has pulled down a team-leading 102 rebounds this season for a per game average of 7.8, ranking fifth in the Empire 8 in both total rebounds and per game average. Her 102 boards puts her career total at 499, just three shy of moving into a two-way tie with Shelia Aber '87 for 10th place in the EC record books. Additionally, Loya needs only one more rebound to become just the sixth Elmira player to register 500 or more boards since 2000. The Bethel, CT, native enters the weekend tied for eighth in program history with former All-American Jessica Zoltowski '14 in career rebounds per game with 6.2.

Charitable Donations
Cleary has taken advantage of her attempts from the charity stripe in her young career at Elmira. Not only did she finish her rookie season with the fourth-most made foul shots in program history (109), the second-year guard currently sits 17th in NCAA Division III women's hoops and tops in the E8 with 69 this season. Cleary needs six more successful free throws to tie Janna Cunningham '99 for 10th place all-time in program history.

Series History vs. Utica
Although Utica holds a 17-12 advantage in the series since 2001-02, EC has won four of the last five matchups. The Soaring Eagles and Pioneers split last season's two-game set, as Elmira scored on a Karli Pochkar '16 buzzer-beater to claim a 53-52 win in Utica on January 23, 2015.

Scouting Utica
The Pioneers currently sit sixth in the Empire 8 standings with a 6-6 overall record and a 1-2 league mark. At the Clark Athletic Center, Utica boasts a 5-1 record, with the Pioneers' only home loss coming against Hartwick last time out. Mary Miceli leads the team with 15.5 points per game and 28 made three-pointers. Ashelyne Babb is second on Utica with a 10.8 point per game average, but has done so by averaging 26.6 minutes off of the bench. The Pioneers lead all of the Empire 8 in offensive rebounding with 15.0 per game, but are only seventh overall in boards per game with 38.2, one-tenth less than EC.

Series History vs. Hartwick
The Hawks have a significant lead in the all-time series against Elmira, having won 46 of the 57 meetings between the two programs. Last season, Cleary led EC to a 59-56 win in the first matchup on January 16, 2015, with a team-high 16 points. However, the Hawks earned a 47-46 victory in the second game of the series at Speidel Gymnasium on February 14, 2015.

Scouting Hartwick
The Hawks lost their first four games of the 2015-16 season, but have recovered to go 4-3 over their last seven contests. Hartwick is 2-1 inside the Empire 8 with wins over Houghton, and most recently, Utica. The Hawks are last in the conference in scoring offense with an average of 50.7 points per game, but rank third in defense, allowing just 57.3 points per game to the opposition. Six-foot forward Taylor Vonasek is the only player on the team with starts in all 11 games. She leads Hartwick with 15.5 points per game, while her 36.6 field-goal percentage is the eighth-best in the E8.

Up Next
The Elmira College women's basketball team will cap off its four-game road trip against Houghton College on Tuesday, January 19th, at 8:00 p.m.