Score: The Sage Colleges 63, Elmira College 54
Records: Sage (14-6, 8-3 E8), Elmira (11-8, 3-7 E8)
Location: Murray Athletic Center -- Pine Valley, New York

PINE VALLEY, N.Y. -- The Elmira College women's basketball team dropped Saturday afternoon's Empire 8 Conference contest against The Sage Colleges, which was played at the Murray Athletic Center as part of the 36th Annual EC Athletics Alumni Weekend, by a final score of 63-54.

The Soaring Eagles shook off a slow start in the opening quarter and outscored the visiting Gators in both the second and third quarters. Although Sage's Emily Parslow sunk a buzzer-beating 3-point field goal to put her team up 19-8 after the opening period, the Purple and Gold began chipping away at the deficit in the second quarter, before taking their first lead of the game in the third stanza.

Trailing by five at halftime, 31-26, EC opened the second half on a 5-0 run and evened the score at 31-all on a Rachel Vespucci '19 layup at the 8:54 mark. Nearly two-and-a-half minutes later, Danielle Cleary '18 gave the Soaring Eagles the lead, 34-33, with a 3-pointer.

Vespucci recorded another layup with four minutes to play in the period, which gave Elmira a 37-35 advantage. It was a brief lead, however, as Sage's Macie Holmes made both of her foul shots on the next possession to even the score. The Gators pulled ahead for good on a Kaitlyn Bowman basket with 1:00 to play in the period.

EC made a run at the Gators in the final period with six unanswered points, with the first three coming off an Emily Green '18 trey and the latter of which Vespucci tallied on an and-one. That brought the Soaring Eagles within two points, 48-46, but Parslow added some insurance with another 3-pointer 11 seconds later. Parslow posted two more three-point plays in the quarter, as part of an 11-point second-half performance to help guide Sage to the win.

Vespucci paced the Soaring Eagles with 15 points, followed by Green with 13 points. Lindsey Heaton '19 and Cleary both tallied 11 points, while Heaton also registered team highs for rebounds (9) and assists (7).

News and Notes

• Elmira's overall record is 11-8, while the Soaring Eagles are now 3-7 against Empire 8 opponents in 2017-18.
• Vespucci has scored double figures on eight occasions this season.
• Heaton has reached double-digits nine times as a junior.
• With 86 assists this season, Heaton has moved into 10th-place in single-season program history.
• Cleary extended her streak with double-digit points to five consecutive games.
• With four free throws against Sage, Cleary became the program's all-time leader in career foul shots (370).

Up Next
The Soaring Eagles will hit the road to take on Hartwick College on Tuesday, February 6, in Oneonta, New York. The Empire 8 bout is slated to begin at 8:00 p.m.