Women's Basketball Falls To St. John Fisher At The Buzzer

1/29/2010 12:00:00 AM

PITTSFORD, N.Y. (January 29, 2010) – Despite a team-high 13 points from senior co-captain Brittany Fuller the Stevens Institute of Technology women's basketball team dropped a close, hard-fought battle with Empire 8 rival St. John Fisher College, falling to the Cardinals, 49-48, at the Manning and Napier Varsity Gym in Pittsford, N.Y. The Ducks are now 10-8 on the season with a 7-3 league ledger, while Fisher moved to 11-8 on the year with a 6-5 mark against conference opponents.

Up 4-3 in the early going, Stevens senior co-captain Sarah Gehring drained her first three of the evening to put the Ducks up four, but Fisher junior guard Colleen Maloney (Liverpool, N.Y.) responded with a triple of her own on the other end to once again make it a one-point game.

Still holding onto a one-point lead at 11-10, Fuller kick-started an 11-0 Stevens run over the next eight minutes of action with a jumper in the paint. Sophomore guard Dawn Garcia followed it up with an open jumper from the left elbow at the 9:16 mark before Fuller nailed a jumper from the right-side, giving the Ducks a 17-0 advantage.

After a pair of scoreless possessions, Fuller made a steal on the defensive end, pushing the ball up-court, before finding Garcia just above the charity stripe – who in turn buried another jumper to stake the Ducks' to a nine-point edge. A Paige Armstrong free-throw gave the Ducks their first double-digit lead of the game with 6:24 to go in the half before Garcia capped off the run, going coast-to-coast for two, to make it 22-10.

Cardinal junior guard Stephanie Sweeney (Albany, N.Y.) finally ended the nearly 10 and a half minute Fisher scoring drought with a pair of free-throws at 3:45 before sophomore Kristi Jeffres (Wyoming, N.Y.) – who netted the team's last basket at the 14:05 mark – hit the Cardinals' first field-goal in 11 minutes, banking in a runner off a give-and-go with Sweeney.

Jeffres connected on another basket with just over a minute to go in the first before a Mary Kate Comfort (Orchard Park, N.Y.) free-throw wrapped up a 7-0 Fisher run to close out the half, making it 22-17 heading into the intermission.

A Maloney three at 18:06 opened up scoring coming out of the break, but back-to-back Armstrong and Fuller baskets quickly upped the Stevens' margin to six.

Still down six after a pair of Jillian Barrett free-throws, junior Amanda Lax (Warwick, N.Y.) found a wide-open Meghan Soja (Whitesboro, N.Y.) down low for two, cutting the Fisher deficit to four. Soja again laid the ball in to trim the Ducks' lead to two at 12:51 before a pair of Lax free-throws knotted the game at 30 with just over 12-minutes to play.

Lax then connected from long distance to give Fisher its first lead since the game's opening basket, capping off a 9-0 Cardinal run. Still down three at 37-34, Stevens took advantage of their opportunities from the charity stripe with Garcia and Barrett each knocking down a pair of free-throws to help the Ducks regain the lead.

Trailing by one at 40-39 following a Fuller jumper, Jeffres drilled a jumper of her own to put Fisher back on top before a Jessica Krzemien (East Concord, N.Y.) three-ball carved out a four-point Cardinal cushion.

A trio of free-throws by Victoria O'Connor and Gehring pared the Ducks' deficit to one with 1:11 left in regulation, but Fisher would go 3-for-4 from the line on the next two Cardinal possessions to up the margin to four with 17 seconds remaining.

Fuller quickly cut it back down to one nailing a deep three from the left wing, before the Stevens defense forced a Maloney turnover on the inbounds pass to give the Ducks a chance to win with a just few ticks left on the clock. Fuller would get a look from the right elbow on the ensuing possession, but the shot veered off target, sealing the Fisher victory.

Fuller had nine rebounds to go along with her team-high 13 points, while Gehring, Barrett, and Garcia each finished with eight points. Armstrong pulled down a team-high 10 boards in the loss.

Maloney and Lax poured in a game-high 14 points apiece to lead the Cardinals attack, while Kristen Taliento (Henrietta, N.Y.) grabbed a team-high five rebounds. Sweeney dished out a team-high six assists in the win.

Stevens will look to snap their two-game skid with a win against Nazareth College on January 30.
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