BOX SCORE
Despite trailing by seven with just three minutes to play, the St. John Fisher College women's basketball team rallied to end the game on a 9-0 run, erasing the deficit and topping East Avenue-rival Nazareth College 55-53 in the Semifinals of the JPMorgan Chase Scholarship Tournament.
With the win, Fisher advances to the Finals, and will take on University of Rochester, the nation's top-ranked team, at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday at R.I.T.
Nazareth held the lead for much of the game, including a seven-point cushion (53-46) with just 2:44 on the clock. Sophomore guard Stephanie Sweeney sparked the game-winning run when she found freshman Kayleigh Comfort for a jumper to cut the lead to five at 2:04.
Fisher (9-3) was clutch from the charity stripe down the stretch, going a perfect 5-for-5 over a 40-second span from 1:48 to 1:08. Sweeney's shots from the line with 1:08 on the clock tied the game at 53.
On its final possession, Nazareth missed a shot, grabbed the offensive rebound and quickly called a timeout to draw up a potential game-winner. Kayleigh Comfort came up with a critical steal after the break with just 15 seconds to play, and got the ball into Sweeney's hands.
Sweeney, who finished with a game-high six assists, found junior center Mary Kate Comfort for a five-foot turnaround jumper from the right side of the paint that banked in off the glass for the game's final points with 3.5 ticks left.
Amanda Lax netted a season-high 13 points in the win on 5-of-6 shooting from the field, including 2-of-2 from 3-point range. Sweeney (10 points) filled the stat sheet with seven rebounds, six assists, four steals and a block, while Mary Kate Comfort (10 points) grabbed six boards, blocked three shots and also finished in double figures.
Christine Isselhard aided the Cardinals with a career-high 10 rebounds.
