Women's Basketball Falls To St. John Fisher

2/5/2011 12:00:00 AM

PITTSFORD, N.Y. (February 5, 2011) – Despite a team-high 11 points from freshman forward Avis Benjamin, the Stevens Institute of Technology women's basketball team suffered just its fourth loss of the season, falling to Empire 8 rival St. John Fisher College, 56-49, at Manning & Napier Varsity Gym in Pittsford, N.Y. With the loss the Ducks drop to 15-4 overall on the year with an 8-3 mark against conference opponents, while the Cardinals, winners of seven-straight, moved to 12-9 on the season, evening their league ledger at 3-3.

Knotted at six early, junior center Kristi Jeffres (Wyoming, N.Y.) notched her first bucket of the day, putting St. John Fisher up two with 15:00 on the clock. Senior guard Stephanie Sweeney (Albany, N.Y.) then drilled a three to extend the margin to five, before a pair of Benjamin free-throws followed by a Jen Thompson trey quickly tied the closely contested game for the third time.

The Cardinals in turn responded, breaking the deadlock with a back-to-back Amanda Lax (Warwick, N.Y.) and Colleen Maloney (Liverpool, N.Y.) triples, pushing the lead to 17-11. Still ahead by seven after another timely three, this time from sophomore Bonny Gardner (Watertown, N.Y.), freshman Camaryn Buckner (Honeoye Falls, N.Y.) converted a three-point play the old-fashioned way to stake Fisher to a double-digit lead.

Hoping to keep pace, Stevens mounted a 7-2 run to close out the final five minutes of the half, getting five points from Benjamin and four-consecutive scores from senior center Victoria O'Connor to pare the deficit to 25-22 heading into the intermission.

With a pair of Benjamin buckets to open the frame, Stevens raced out on a 6-2 run to start the second, taking a 28-27 advantage. The Cardinals responded with a quick 5-1 spurt of its own, building a three-point edge on a pair of Meghan Soja (Whitesboro, N.Y.) free-throws, but O'Connor converted a three-point play to once again tie the contest.

Looking to put Fisher back on top, Maloney netted seven of the game's next nine points to stake the Cardinals to a 39-34 edge with 8:41 remaining. Soja then drove into the lane for two, before a pair of Buckner free-throws coupled with a Jessica Krzemien (East Concord, N.Y.) layup, put Fisher up 11.

Soja later hit a pair of free-throws to cap off the Cardinals' decisive 15-2 run before Stevens' junior guard Dawn Garcia connected on a pair from the charity stripe to trim the Ducks' deficit back down to 11 with 5:34 left. Stevens would pull back to within seven after a Jillian Barrett (Philadelphia, Pa.) trey with 43 seconds remaining, but the Cardinals would hold on down the stretch to claim their 12th victory of the season.

O'Connor finished with nine points and 12 rebounds, while Barrett and junior Victoria Webber each added eight points in the loss. Maloney led all scorers with 20 points on 7-for-8 shooting, while Soja added 11 points and 10 boards. Buckner chipped in with seven points, five rebounds, and three assists in the win.

Stevens returns to action on Tuesday, February 8 against Montclair State University.
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