HOBOKEN, N.J. (February 27, 2016) – The Stevens Institute of Technology women's basketball team punched its ticket to the NCAA Tournament, securing the Empire 8 Championship with a 70-44 win over Ithaca College Saturday.

The Ducks won the E8 for the first time since 2010-11, and sophomore Megan Brown was named E8 Tournament Most Valuable Player.

Ithaca would stake an early 7-6 lead on a jumper by Ali Ricchitui, but that would be their only lead of the evening. A 14-4 run over the final 7:40 of the first quarter, which included three pointers by junior Erica Guketlov and senior Kaitlyn Astel, put the Ducks up double digits after one.

The Ducks defense was the story of the opening half, holding Ithaca to just eight field goals and 12 turnovers. Stevens doubled the number of made field goals, and had four fewer turnovers. Sophomore Anna Toke and senior Dylan Krause were active on the defensive end, each contributing a pair of steals in the opening 20. 

Stevens used another 14-4 spurt midway through the third quarter to open the game up. An Astel jumper with 2:04 left put Stevens up 21, and a Brown layup with three seconds left in the period put Stevens up 19 heading into the final stanza.

Sophomore Brooke Stoddard and senior Megan Petuskey hit layups late in the fourth quarter to finalize the scoring for Stevens. Petuskey, Krause and classmate Miranda Ripken left the floor with 1:05 remaining in the game, sending the crowd into a frenzy.

Astel led all scorers with 21 points on 7-of-11 shooting, while Brown had 11 points and 11 rebounds. Brown averaged 10 points and 10 rebounds in the two games of the tournament, and the Ducks got 13 points and four helpers from Guketlov.

Keri Steele and Julie Yacovoni led Ithaca with 10 points each in the defeat.

The Ducks will learn where they will playing during the NCAA Selection Show at 2:30, live on ncaa.com.

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