The St. John Fisher College women's basketball team rallied to defeat visiting Buffalo State College Tuesday, as the Cardinals came through with a 64-60 win.   Fisher, who held the Bengals to just one field goal over the final 8:29, opened the game up with a 5-0 run, but never retook the lead again until the final two minutes.  The Cardinals trailed 56-55 with 1:11 left, but used a 6-0 spurt, highlighted by back-to-back buckets from senior forward Mary Francis (Gulf Coast/Naples, FL), to take the lead for good.

Francis led the Cardinals with a career-high 20 points on 6-for-9 shooting from the field and 7-for-9 shooting from the free-throw line.  She also tallied six rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Freshman forward Kristen Taliento (Rush-Henrietta/Henrietta) scored a career-high nine points and grabbed four rebounds, while classmate Jessica Ainslie (Honeoye/Honeoye) chipped in with seven points.

Junior forward Allison Boehm (Sacred Heart/Cheektowaga) finished with a team-high eight assists, six points, five rebounds and three steals, while freshman Jen Van Oss (Archbishop Alter/Dayton, OH) added six points and three rebounds.  

Junior Ashley Dean (Horseheads/Horseheads) and freshman Melissa Kanalley (Cardinal O’Hara/Tonawanda) each scored five points for the Cardinals, while Ashley Napoleone (Batavia Notre Dame/Batavia) finished with a career-high five assists and four points.

Fisher (3-0) will return to action at 8 p.m. on Saturday and will host D’Youville College in the first round of the Holiday Inn Marketplace Tournament.

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