ELMIRA, N.Y. – The Elmira College Women's Basketball team finished with four players in double figures as the Soaring Eagles opened Empire 8 conference action with a 61-53 win against Keuka on Tuesday night inside Speidel Gymnasium.
 
JUST THE BASICS:
SCORE: Elmira 61, Keuka 53
LOCATION: Elmira, NY | Speidel Gymnasium
TEAM RECORDS: Elmira (6-3, 1-0 E8), Keuka (1-8, 0-1 E8)
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Taylor Albrecht '22 opened the scoring for the Soaring Eagles as her layup would give EC a 2-0 advantage at the 9:27 mark of the first quarter. Keuka would lead by as many as six points on two different occasions in the opening frame including a 13-7 edge following a trey from Jenna Lamere at the 4:39 mark.

Desiree Roy '25 capped a 6-0 run for the Soaring Eagles with a layup at the 2:20 mark to knot the score 13-13. The opening quarter would end deadlocked as neither team was able to hit a shot over the final two minutes of play.

Olivia Ayres '25 sparked the offense for Elmira early in the second quarter as her 3-pointer would give the Soaring Eagles a 16-14 lead. Nevaeh Winston '25 tallied four consecutive points to stretch the EC lead to 20-14 halfway through the period after converting a pair of free throws at the 5:47 mark. The Wolves rallied before the end of the half and would get a trey from Killian Mahoney to take a 28-27 lead into the break.

Elmira scored six straight points to open the third quarter and would take a 33-28 edge following a fastbreak layup from Roy following a steal by Albrecht. A game-high 8-0 run midway through the quarter would allow the Soaring Eagles to take an 11-point edge over the Wolves as Winston finished a layup at the 5:44 mark to make it 41-30.

The Soaring Eagles would take a 44-38 lead into the final quarter as EC went 8-of-18 from the field while limiting the Wolves to a 3-of-19 showing from the field.

Keuka rallied in the fourth quarter and would trim the deficit to 51-46 with 3:50 left to play before Albrecht drained a trey to put the Soaring Eagles back on top 54-46. Elmira would tally seven points at the free-throw line to close the game as the lead stretched to 61-52 with six seconds left to play before the Wolves added a point in the final second of action.

Elmira finished the contest 22-of-65 from the field and 15-of-21 at the charity stripe, while Keuka finished 14-of-65 from the field and 6-of-41 from downtown. Albrecht finished with a game-high 15 points for EC to go along with eight rebounds, while Winston notched a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Roy tallied a game-high 15 rebounds and finished with 11 points to secure a double-double for the Soaring Eagles, while Alyssa Waters '22 tallied 14 points and a game-high seven assists.

UP NEXT:
The Soaring Eagles are back in action on Friday, January 7 with a 5:30 p.m. matchup at Utica College. Elmira wraps up the weekend with a 2:00 p.m. matchup on Saturday at Alfred University.