The St. John Fisher College women's basketball team rallied from a 15-point deficit in the final three minutes of regulation, and came through with an 85-72 win in overtime over visiting Hartwick College on Friday night at Fisher's Bobby Wanzer Court.
With the win, Fisher improves to 11-9 overall and 8-3 in the Empire 8 Conference, while Hartwick falls to 6-11, 3-6. The win also marks Fisher's sixth consecutive victory, the longest winning streak in the last five years.
Hartwick closed out the first half with a 17-3 run and led 37-29 at intermission.
Fisher cut Hartwick's lead down to six points at 41-35 with 15:43 left in the game, but Hartwick scored the next six points and pushed its lead to 15 points on three different occasions, the last time coming with 3:01 left on a pair of free throws from Fritzi Flores to give the Hawks a 63-48 advantage.
The Cardinals, however, did not quit and used a full-court press to force four turnovers and scored 13 unanswered after
Meghan Soja's layup with 1:00 left made it 63-61.
Hartwick converted a free throw at the other end, but Soja again scored down low with 16 seconds left, making it 64-63.
Hartwick's Maria Foglia made two free throws with 13 seconds left, pushing Hartwick's lead back to three at 66-63, but senior
Colleen Maloney, who was 0-for-6 from 3-point range, forced overtime with a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 2.5 seconds left.
In overtime, it was all Fisher. After Hartwick's Kate Purcell went 1-for-2 from the foul line on the opening possession of the extra frame, Fisher scored the next 13 points and never looked back. Fisher shot 4-for-4 from the floor in overtime and 10-for-13 from the foul line. Hartwick was 1-for-7 from the field in overtime.
Maloney led four Fisher players in double figures with 21 points. Amanda Lax and Stephanie Sweeney each scored 16 points, while Soja added 11. #Camaryn Buckner# added nine points and nine rebounds, while Kristi Jeffres finished with eight.
Fisher will return to action at 2 p.m. on Saturday and will host Stevens Institute of Technology.
