Women's Basketball Opens Conference Play With Win Over Alfred

12/5/2009 12:00:00 AM

ALFRED, N.Y. (December 5, 2009) – After a grueling non-conference slate which featured three institutions that earned NCAA Tournament bids a year ago, including current WBCA No. 4 University of Scranton, the Stevens Institute of Technology women's basketball team opened up conference play with an 80-52 win over Empire 8 rival Alfred University. The Ducks are now 3-4 on the young season, while the Saxons drop to 5-2 on the year.

Up four after a Dawn Garcia triple, Alfred junior forward, Autumn McLain (Oneida, N.Y.) put the Saxons on the board, slicing the Ducks' lead to two. Stevens responded with a 12-4 run over the next six and a half minutes of action to take a 16-6 advantage at the 11:43 mark. Senior co-captain Brittany Fuller netted eight of her game-high 22 points during the stretch to give the Stevens the early edge.

After a pair of Danielle Cooper (Reading, Pa.) free-throws cut the Saxon deficit to six just under the 10-minute mark, Stevens rattled off 13 unanswered points, capped off by a Fuller trey to take a 19-point lead with 5:53 remaining in the first half. An Alysia Dias (Rochester, N.Y.) free-throw eventually pared the lead to 16, but the Ducks netted nine of the game's next 11 points to take a 23-point lead into the intermission.

Coming out of the break, Garcia would up the Ducks' margin to 27 with a layup with 17:55 to go, but Alfred junior guard Lyndsay Murphy (Almond, N.Y.) buried a three to bring the Saxons within 24. Unfazed, Stevens reeled off a 15-3 run, capped off by a Victoria O'Connor jumper, to stake the Ducks to a 63-27 lead with 10:53 remaining.

Sophomore guard Christina Jordan (Cornwall on Hudson, N.Y.) connected from long-range to cut the Saxon deficit to 25 at the 3:38 mark, but that was as close as Alfred would get, as Stevens cruised to a 28-point victory, snapping a four-game losing skid.

“We've played a challenging non-league schedule to this point,” said head coach Jon Hochberg. “It has certainly helped us prepare for league play.”

Fuller had a game-high 22 points and added seven rebounds, while Garcia finished with 15 points, three steals, and three boards. Sophomore Jillian Barrett and senior co-captain Sarah Gehring rounded out the list of Ducks in double figures with 11 points apiece. Barrett also had a team-high nine rebounds in the win, while Gehring added six boards.

McLain led the Saxons with 12 points and 10 rebounds, while Murphy put forth an 11-point, 3-rebound, and 2-assist effort in the loss. Dias finished with nine points and four boards.

Stevens, which shot 51.6 percent (31-for-64) from the floor, held Alfred to 16-for-55 shooting (29.1 percent) from the field. The Ducks also held a 45-33 rebounding edge, while scoring 17 points on 15 Saxon turnovers.

The Ducks will next face Rochester Institute of Technology on Sunday, December 6 at 12 p.m.
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