HOBOKEN, N.J. (January 13, 2008) – Trailing by as many as 13 points in the first half, the Stevens Institute of Technology women's basketball team rallied for a 64-55 victory against Empire 8 rival Utica College on Sunday afternoon at the Canavan Arena in Hoboken, N.J. With the win, the Ducks ran their overall record to 12-3 and conference ledger to 8-0. As for the Pioneers, they fell to 7-6 and 4-3 in league action.
Up 18-14 with 7:38 remaining in the first half, Utica went on an 11-2 run in a span of 2:48 to go ahead 29-16 with three-plus minutes to go. Freshman guards Devon Croll (Vernon, N.Y.) and Stephanie Nara (Frederick, Md.) as well as senior guard/forward Karen Crisanti (Geneva, N.Y.) all made threes in the burst.
Stevens answered with a 10-1 spurt to end off the half, which cut the deficit to 30-26 heading into the locker room. Sophomore guard Sarah Gehring started it up with a lay-up, while freshman center Victoria O'Connor and junior guard Dani Dudek ended it by making a trio of shots from the free-throw line. Sophomore forward Brittany Fuller also added a trifecta during the streak.
The Ducks opened up the second half by rattling off an 8-4 run to knot the game up at 34-34. Fuller knocked down back-to-back three-balls in the burst. Later on, the Pioneers led the Ducks 47-46 on a made free-throw by Croll with 9:10 left in regulation, but O'Connor immediately responded with a made lay-up to take a one-point advantage. From there, Stevens never looked back as it out-scored Utica by a 16-8 count over the final eight minutes to get the victory.
During that span, Stevens was leading 53-51 with just more than six minutes left in regulation. It used a short 6-0 spurt in a period of 1:51 to put the game away for good. Senior forward Dora Enright accounted for the first four points, while Dudek capped off the streak by draining a lay-up with 4:28 remaining.
As a squad, the Ducks shot 33.9 percent (19-for-56) from the field, 42.9 percent (6-for-14) from three-point range and 80.0 percent (20-for-25) from the charity stripe. Dudek finished with a team-high 15 points. She also accumulated six rebounds, five assists and three steals. Enright posted a 13-point, seven-board performance. Fuller got 11 points and two rebounds, while O'Connor contributed six points, six rebounds, two blocks and two steals.
Utica shot 35.6 percent (21-of-59) from the floor, 27.8 percent (5-of-18) from downtown and 80.0 percent (8-of-10) from the foul line. Junior guard Mallory Davis (Rockville, Conn.) scored a game-high 19 points, while Croll tallied 14 points and three rebounds in 32 minutes of action. Crisanti ended her day with five points and 10 rebounds.
Stevens will return to the court this Friday when it starts up a three-game road trip in Rochester, N.Y. at St. John Fisher College. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. and all of the action can be seen live at www.Empire8.tv.
