UTICA, N.Y. – Despite receiving a career-high 20 points from Olivia Ayres '25, the Elmira College Women's Basketball team dropped an 81-50 decision on Friday night against Utica in an Empire 8 conference matchup inside the Clark Athletic Center.
 
JUST THE BASICS:
SCORE: Elmira 50, Utica 81
LOCATION: Utica, NY | Clark Athletic Center
TEAM RECORDS: Elmira (6-4, 1-1 E8), Utica (10-0, 1-0 E8)
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Taylor Albrecht '22 and Nevaeh Winston '25 provided some early offense for the Soaring Eagles as Albrecht opened the scoring in the contest, while Winston later finished a layup to knot the score 4-4 with 7:59 left to play in the first quarter.

Victoria Rought '24 snapped a scoring-run by Utica with a layup at the 2:38 mark that trimmed the deficit to 15-8. The Pioneers closed the quarter with a 7-0 run to take a 22-8 advantage into the second quarter.

Albrecht opened the quarter with four straight points for EC to trim the deficit to 22-10 before Utica's Petrina DeMarco answered with a 3-pointer to stop the run. Utica would increase its lead to 32-14 before Ayres tallied four consecutive points to pull the Soaring Eagles within 13 points of the Pioneers. Ayres hit a late trey to go along with a jumper from Desiree Roy '25 that trimmed the deficit to 41-24.

Utica would lead by as many as 28 points in the third quarter before Anna Ward '25 finished a layup in the paint for the Soaring Eagles. Alyssa Waters '22 drained a 3-pointer with less than a minute to play in the quarter as EC would head to the fourth quarter trailing 56-33.

The Soaring Eagles continued their run in the final quarter of play as Ayres drained consecutive 3-pointers to cut the deficit to 56-39 with 8:19 remaining in the contest. Ayres would sink two more shots from beyond the arc midway through the frame to pull EC within a 62-45 margin of the Pioneers. Taylor Jung '25 closed the scoring for the Soaring Eagles with a layup and bucket at the free-throw line.

Elmira finished the contest 7-of-18 from downtown but shot just 19-of-62 from the field. Ayres went 6-of-9 from downtown for the Soaring Eagles, while Roy tallied a team-high seven rebounds to go along with six points.

UP NEXT:
The Soaring Eagles are back in action on Tuesday, January 11 as Elmira travels to Alfred for an Empire 8 matchup against the Saxons beginning at 5:30 p.m.