ELMIRA, N.Y. – The Elmira College women's basketball program saw its five-game winning streak come to an end at the hands of Empire 8 Conference foe Houghton on Tuesday night inside Speidel Gymnasium. The Soaring Eagles were paced by Laura Bogota '24, who recorded 14 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the field.
 
JUST THE BASICS:
SCORE: Elmira 53, Houghton 55
LOCATION: Elmira, New York | Speidel Gymnasium
TEAM RECORDS: Elmira (9-5, 5-3 E8), Houghton (11-4, 4-4 E8)
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Elmira came storming out of the gates from the opening tip as the Soaring Eagles poured in 18 points thanks to an 8-of-14 start from the field. The Soaring Eagles would have their lead trimmed to 11-9 by the Highlanders with just over four minutes left to play in the first quarter before going on a run to end the frame. Taylor Albrecht '22 hit a jumper to make it 13-9 in favor of the Purple & Gold, while Desiree Roy '25 would score the final five points of the quarter for Elmira to make it 18-9.

The offense would cool for Elmira in the second quarter despite getting an early free throw from Taylor Jung '25 to extend the lead to 19-9. Houghton rallied to trim the deficit to just three points as a scoop-and-score with just over six minutes left to play in the half made it 19-16. Elmira would get its first bucket to drop with 4:15 left to play as Roy finished a layup off a feed from Albrecht. Elmira stormed back to stretch its lead to double digits as Nevaeh Winston '25 made a free throw to make it 26-16. Houghton tallied the final four points of the half to trim EC's lead to 26-20.

An adjustment at halftime by the Highlanders would payoff right out of the gate as Houghton cut the Soaring Eagles' lead to 30-26. Houghton knotted the score 31-31 with 5:05 left to play before Winston answered with a layup to put EC back on top 33-31. With the lead changing hands several times over the final two minutes of the quarter, the Soaring Eagles would knot the score 38-38 as Albrecht drained a pair of foul shots with 10 seconds left on the clock. The scoring would not be complete as Houghton drove down the court for a bucket and the foul to take a 41-38 lead into the final frame.

Despite trailing by as many as six points early in the fourth quarter the Soaring Eagles battled back as Roy trimmed the deficit to 44-42 with a layup before Bogota drained a 3-pointer at the 7:12 mark to five EC a 45-44 lead. Houghton responded with a run that would see them take a five-point edge with just over three minutes left. The Soaring Eagles tried valiantly to complete the comeback as Bogota stole the ball with 35 seconds left and finished a layup to make it 54-53. Elmira had the ball and a chance to take the lead in the final seconds of the contest but would be unable to get a shot to drop as the Highlanders would hit a late free throw to secure the 55-53 victory.

UP NEXT:
The Purple & Gold are back home on Saturday as part of Athletics Alumni Weekend with a 2:00 P.M. matchup against Alfred inside Speidel Gymnasium.