Score: Stevens Institute of Technology 46, Elmira College 38
Records: Stevens (12-12, 9-6 E8), Elmira (13-11, 5-10 E8)
Location: Elmira, N.Y. -- Speidel Gymnasium

ELMIRA, N.Y. -- The Elmira College women's basketball team dropped a sloppy Empire 8 Conference game to Stevens Institute of Technology on Friday night by a final score 46-38 at Speidel Gymnasium.

The Soaring Eagles finished with season-lows in both field goals (13) and points (38), while producing their second-worst field-goal percentage of the season at 27.7 percent. To make matters worse, the Ducks' stingy defense forced EC into turning the ball over on 20 occasions and logged 17 steals, the most by an opposing team this season.

After netting just five points in the entire second quarter, the Purple and Gold found themselves in a 19-15 hole at halftime. In the third quarter, however, the Soaring Eagles went on a 7-0 run to whittle a nine-point margin down to just two points, 26-24. Danielle Cleary '18 began the rally with one of her team-best three 3-pointers, and her former high school teammate, Rachel Vespucci '19, knocked down back-to-back buckets to end the spurt. Stevens responded with a strong finish to the quarter, outscoring EC 8-2 in the final 2:17 in the period to widen the gap back to eight points, 34-26.

Twice in the fourth quarter, Sally Hogan '19 notched buckets to bring the Soaring Eagles within five points of their feathered foes. Hogan's second such field goal made it a 42-37 score in favor of Stevens with three-and-a-half minutes to play, but Elmira mustered only one point the rest of the way by going 0-for-3 from the floor with one turnover.

Cleary led all scorers in the game with 16 points, in addition to six rebounds and four steals while playing all 40 minutes. Vespucci added nine points, six rebounds, two steals and one block for Elmira. Megan Brown picked up her 10th double-double of the season with 13 points and 10 boards for the Ducks, who clinched a berth in the Empire 8 Tournament with the victory.

News and Notes

• Elmira falls to 13-11 overall and 5-10 in Empire 8 play.
• The loss versus Stevens is for the first for the Soaring Eagles in 2017-18 when limiting an opponent to less than 60 points; Elmira is 8-1 in those nine games.
• EC's 38 points mark the fewest scored by the Soaring Eagles since netting only 35 in a loss versus Hartwick on January 3, 2017.
• Cleary reached double-figures for the 18th time in 24 games as a senior.
• Cleary has made multiple 3-pointers in 16 games this season.
• With 16 points, Cleary increased her career total to 1,494, just six shy of becoming the second Soaring Eagle to eclipse 1,500.
• With 183 career 3-point makes, Cleary surpassed Suzanne Wellman '00 (182) for third-place all-time in program history.
• Lindsey Heaton '19 upped her season assist total to 108, just one shy of her career-high and fourth-most in EC's single-season history.

Up Next
The Soaring Eagles will play their final game of the 2017-18 season at Speidel Gymnasium on Saturday, February 17, when Elmira hosts Houghton College at 5:00 p.m.