Elmira College (7-17, 4-11 Empire 8) at Alfred University (2-22, 1-14 Empire 8)
Saturday, February 20, 2016 | 4:00 P.M. | Terry S. Galanis Family Arena – Alfred, NY
 
Live Coverage | Game Notes
 
Elmira, NY -- The Elmira College women's basketball team concludes the 2015-16 season when the team heads to Alfred University to take on the Saxons. Opening tip is slated for 4:00 p.m.
 
Last Time Out
Elmira suffered a double-digit loss in its last contest on the road to Nazareth College. A slow first quarter proved disastrous for the Soaring Eagles, who were outscored 21-to-6 in the opening stanza. Elmira hung tough through the next three quarters, outscoring the Golden Flyers 57-to-56, but was unable to cut the deficit to less than 10 points, as Nazareth pulled away for the victory. The story of the game for Elmira was the play of fourth-year forward Meghan Loya '16, who produced a career-high 22 points and grabbed a team-high eight boards.
 
Rookie of the Week Honors
Lindsey Heaton '19 was named the Empire 8 Conference Rookie of the Week on Monday afternoon, marking the third time the New Milford, CT, native has received honors from the conference office; she now has the most E8 Rookie of the Week accolades of any freshman in the league. Heaton averaged 12.0 points, 4.7 assists, 2.3 rebounds, and 1.0 steals in a 1-2 week for Elmira. She logged a career-high eight assists in a six-point win against Houghton. Heaton then scored double-digits in back-to-back games against St. John Fisher and Nazareth, scoring 15 and 12, respectively.
 
Loya Eyes Fourth Spot
Fourth-year forward Meghan Loya '16 grabbed eight rebounds against the Golden Flyers, which brings her career total 586. She enters Saturday's finale as the program's fifth-best rebounder and needs just two boards to pass former teammate Jessica Zoltowski '14 to move into sole possession of fourth place in the EC record books.
 
Making Them Count from the Stripe
The 2015-16 season has seen Danielle Cleary '18 vastly improve from the free-throw line. Cleary connected at a 68.6-percent clip last season, but that number has jumped to 79.9-percent. As a result, Cleary has knocked down 107 free-throws, the fifth-most in EC single-season history. She sits on 216 career makes from the charity stripe, which ranks fifth in program history, making her one of just seven players in Elmira's history to make 200-or-more.
 
Last Meeting
The last time these two teams met, Elmira marched away with a 10-point victory at Speidel Gymnasium. Alfred held a seven-point lead after the first quarter, but the  Soaring Eagles would go on to outscore the Saxons 38-to-20 over the next two periods, which gave EC a double-digit lead it would never relinquish. Cleary led the charge for the Soaring Eagles with a team-high 22 points, 12 of which came from three-point range.
 
Series History
Since the start of the 2001-02 season, Elmira is 19-9 versus the Saxons of Alfred University. The Soaring Eagles have swept the two-game series in each of the last three seasons and enter Saturday's contest having won the last seven meetings.
 
Scouting Alfred
Alfred University has struggled this season, as the Saxons enter the weekend with a 2-22 overall record and a 1-14 mark in Empire 8 Conference play. Alfred is coming off of one of its best performances of the season on Thursday evening against Houghton. The Saxons led by as much as five in the final quarter, but the Highlanders would storm back down the stretch to notch a 54-52 victory on the game's final possession. Amanda Off paces Alfred's offense fromt he low post. She leads the team and ranks fifth in the Empire 8 Conference with a 15.6 points per game average. The junior forward also hits the glass with authority, ranking seventh in the conference at 7.0 rebounds per game. McKaylee Croll leads the team's backcourt, posing a potent shooting threat from the outside. She ranks third in the E8 with 43 made three-pointers, while she is second on the Saxons with a 12.0 points per game average. Chanice Battle is a strong creator of the dribble, pacing the squad with 2.4 assists per game.