The St. John Fisher College women’s basketball team suffered a 69-54 loss to East Avenue rival Nazareth College on Tuesday in an Empire 8 Conference matchup.

 

The loss marks just the second time Nazareth has ever defeated Fisher twice in the same season in the program’s 34-year history.  Nazareth defeated Fisher by three points in the semifinals of the Chase Scholarship Tournament, but the Cardinals returned the favor with a two-point win at Nazareth five days later.  Fisher, still leads the all-time series 49-11.

 

Nazareth (7-12 overall, 3-7 Empire 8), who led for the entire game, shot an amazing 8-for-15 from 3-point range and led 37-26 at intermission after two 3-pointers from Kelly Dunne in the final 30 seconds of the first half. 

 

Fisher (11-8, 6-4) never cut into the Golden Flyers’ lead and trailed by double-digits for the remainder of the game.

 

For the game, the Golden Flyers shot 12-for-24 from 3-point range, and when they did miss, they grabbed the rebound, tallying 14 offensive boards and finished the game with a 44-31 advantage on the glass.

 

Dunne led Nazareth with 20 points and added five assists, while Sally Wilcox totaled 14 points.  For Fisher, Allison Boehm tallied 14 points, six rebounds and four assists.

 

The Cardinals will return to action at 6 p.m. on Friday at Ithaca College.  Since 2000, either Fisher or Ithaca has won the Empire 8 title.