ELMIRA, N.Y. – The Elmira College Women's Basketball team dropped a 72-57 decision on Friday night against Nazareth in an Empire 8 conference matchup inside Speidel Gymnasium. Desiree Roy '25 notched a double-double for the Soaring Eagles, finishing with 11 points and 15 rebounds.
 
JUST THE BASICS:
SCORE: Elmira 57, Nazareth 72
LOCATION: Elmira, NY | Speidel Gymnasium
TEAM RECORDS: Elmira (6-6, 1-3 E8), Nazareth (8-5, 3-1 E8)
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The Soaring Eagles would open the scoring in the first quarter and swap leads with Nazareth in the early going. Roy finished a layup in the paint at the 6:39 mark to trim the deficit to 7-6 before the Golden Flyers answered with a layup of their own. Nevaeh Winston '25 ended a scoring drought for EC as her layup with 2:30 remaining cut the deficit to 21-11.

A 7-0 run to open the second quarter helped Elmira trim the Nazareth lead to single digits as Taylor Albrecht '22 drained a 3-pointer to make it 24-16 before Winston hit a pair of free throws to make it 24-18. A tough stretch over the final four minutes of play in the quarter for EC allowed the Golden Flyers to regain a double-digit advantage as Sarah Simmons drained a trey to beat the buzzer and make it 38-25.

Elmira would get things going offensively in the third quarter as the Purple & Gold tallied 18 points but would see the Golden Flyers notch 20 points to keep their double-digit edge on the scoreboard. The Soaring Eagles matched Nazareth by tallying 14 points in the final quarter of play as the 3-point shooting barrage on the night would be too much to handle in the end.

Winston paced the Soaring Eagles with 16 points on the night as she went 6-of-12 from the field, while Albrecht added 15 points to go along with five assists. D'Asia Jones '25 added six points off the bench for the Soaring Eagles as she made 3-of-5 shots from the field.

The Soaring Eagles went 23-of-60 from the field and 1-of-10 from downtown in the contest, while Nazareth went 25-of-59 from the field and 10-of-27 from downtown. Elmira continued its strong play down low, recording 42 of its 57 points inside the paint.

UP NEXT:
The Soaring Eagles return to the court on Saturday afternoon for an Empire 8 matchup against St. John Fisher College. Tip-off from Speidel Gymnasium is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.