HOBOKEN, N.J. (February 5, 2010) – Senior forward Brittany Fuller scored a team-high 25 points to lead the Stevens Institute of Technology women's basketball team to a huge, 67-64, Empire 8 win over rival Utica College on Friday night at the Canavan Arena in Hoboken, N.J. Sophomore guard Kathleen Schuckers scored 15 points and senior forward Victoria O'Connor pulled down a game-high 16 rebounds and tallied six blocks for the Ducks who improve to 9-3 in the Empire 8 and 12-8 overall. Utica drops to 15-4 on the season and 8-2 in the conference.

Stevens' head coach Jon Hochberg earned the 100th win of his career. Unfortunately, the Ducks' leader had to miss the game because of illness, and assistants Stephanie Del Preore and Dani Dudek were able to fill in nicely in his absence.

Fuller scored her 25 points on 10-of-19 from the field and 2-of-5 from three-point range. She hit all three of her free throws (3-for-3), pulled down six rebounds, dished out four assists, and had two blocks. Schuckers had 16 points, three rebounds, and three steals while sophomore guard Dawn Garcia netted 12 points, handed out three assists, and pulled down four boards. O'Connor had six points, six blocks, 16 rebounds, and a pair of steals, and senior guard Sarah Gehring netted six points, recorded three thefts, corralled two rebounds, and dished out two assists.

The Ducks shot 43.5 percent from the floor (27-of-62), 5-of-11 (45.5 percent) from three, and 8-of-11 (72.7 percent) from the free-throw line. Stevens had nine steals and nine blocks and held a 40-36 rebound advantage.

Utica was led by junior Jessica Berry (Rome, N.Y.) who scored a game-high 28 points and pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds. Freshman center Meghan Fiore (Epping, N.H.) was the only other Pioneer is double figures with 12 points. Utica ended the contest shooting 39.6 percent from the floor and 1-of-6 from long range. The Pioneers connected on 21 of their 29 attempts from the free-throw line.

Tied at six apiece after the first 3:04 of game time, Stevens was able to take its first lead after a jumper from Schuckers. The sophomore was able to make 10-6 Stevens with another jumper on the Ducks' next possession, and they were able to maintain a slight advantage over the next three-plus minutes.

Up 16-14 with 11:43 remaining in the half, Garcia made a pretty driving layup and converted the free throw after she was fouled to give the Ducks their largest lead of the game (19-14). Stevens pushed its edge to seven at 23-16 thanks to another Garcia layup, and following a jump shot by Berry, Gehring drilled a triple from the right elbow to put the Ducks up eight (26-18) with 10:39 in the half.

Utica was able to cut the lead to four on several occasions in the final 10 minutes of the first, but Stevens closed out the half on a 5-0 spurt thanks to a three-pointer from Garcia and a 15-footer from Fuller at the buzzer to take a 37-28 advantage into intermission.

The Pioneers came out strong in the second, outscoring the Ducks 8-2 over a span of 2:30 to make it a three-point game (41-38) with 17:30 to play. Stevens, however, was able to withstand the blow and immediately got the lead back to eight thanks to a three from Fuller and a 10-foot jump shot from O'Connor.

Utica answered the Stevens spurt by outscoring the Ducks 11-5 over the next 2:58 to make it a two-point a game (51-49) with 12:25 to play. Berry scored seven of the nine points in the run, and the two teams traded baskets over the next three minutes.

With Stevens holding a 56-51 advantage, Utica ran off seven of the game's next eight points to take its first lead (58-57) since the 17:13 mark of the first half with 7:21 to play, but the Ducks answered with a huge three from Schuckers at the top of the key. The two teams each had several empty possessions before O'Connor was able to score in the lane to push the Duck lead back to four (63-59) with 4:15 left.

Fiore converted 1-of-2 at the line for the Pioneers but another Shuckers jumper extended the Stevens lead back to five (65-60) with 3:15 left. Senior forward Jessica Snyder (Elbridge, N.Y.) hit a pair at the line to make it 65-52 Stevens with 2:38 to play and after an empty possession for the Ducks, Utica hit 1-of-2 to make it a two-point game.

Stevens again came away with nothing on its next possession, but Berry converted just 1-of-2 after she was fouled in the act of shooting, and Stevens held a one-point lead with 34 ticks on the clock. Utica tried to force a turnover after O'Connor rebounded Berry's missed free throw, but eventually the Pioneers had to foul Schuckers who calmly sank both her foul shots to give Stevens the final margin at 67-64.

With the victory, Stevens inches closer to second-place Utica in the conference standings and will return to action on February 14 at Hartwick College. Utica visits first-place Ithaca College on February 9.