ELMIRA, N.Y. – The Elmira College women's basketball program survived a fourth-quarter comeback from the Mount Aloysius Mounties as the Soaring Eagles secured a 66-65 victory on Saturday inside Speidel Gymnasium.
 
JUST THE BASICS:
SCORE: Elmira 66, Mount Aloysius 65
LOCATION: Elmira, New York | Speidel Gymnasium
TEAM RECORDS: Elmira (9-13, 3-10 E8), Mount Aloysius (4-18, 4-10 AMCC)
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The Soaring Eagles would lead for a majority of the opening quarter of action as Desiree Roy '25 and Taylor Albrecht '22 helped give EC an early 4-0 lead. The Mounties rallied to grab an 8-6 advantage before Alyssa Waters '22 connected on a 3-pointer to give Elmira a 9-8 lead. EC extended its lead to 11-8 before Mount Aloysius rallied to gain a 13-11 advantage with 2:28 left to play. The Mounties used an 8-0 run to take a 19-13 lead into the second quarter.

Elmira quickly trimmed the deficit to 19-18 early in the quarter as Roy finished a 3-point play after being fouled inside the paint. A 6-0 run later would put EC ahead 24-22 as Olivia Ayres '25 highlighted the rally by knocking down a 3-pointer. Waters would give the Purple & Gold a 30-26 lead following a layup with 1:11 remaining that would hold until the final buzzer to send both teams to the locker room.

Mount Aloysius opened the second half with a rally to knot the score 32-32 before the Soaring Eagles answered with their best offensive stretch of the contest. A layup from Albrecht at the 8:14 mark would open a 10-0 run for Elmira as the Purple & Gold gained a 42-32 advantage. Nevaeh Winston '25 added four points during the rally with back-to-back layups, while Roy finished a layup off a steal from Waters to close the run.

The Mounties answered with their own offensive rally and would eventually knot the score following a trey with 2:32 remaining to make it 44-44. The Mounties scored the final four points of the quarter to even the score at 48-48 to head to the fourth quarter.

Elmira would lead by as many as seven points in the final frame before the Mounties rallied to within a single possession with under three minutes left to play. The Mounties drained a trey to take a 65-63 lead before Waters finished a layup to knot the score with 1:01 left to play. The game would ultimately be decided at the free-throw line as Waters was fouled with two seconds left on the game clock. She hit the first of her two shots to seal the victory for the Soaring Eagles.

Winston finished with a game-high 17 points for the Soaring Eagles, while Albrecht added 13 points and Waters 12 points for Elmira. Roy and Ayres each added eight points for EC, while the Soaring Eagles held a 45-43 advantage in rebounds in the contest.

UP NEXT:
The Purple & Gold return to the court with a road contest against Empire 8 foe St. John Fisher on Tuesday beginning at 5:30 p.m.