Despite suffering a 66-55 loss to Stevens Institute of Technology tonight, the St. John Fisher College women's basketball team has earned a spot in the Empire 8 Conference Championship.  The Cardinals (11-12, 7-5) will be either the No. 3 or No. 4 seed in the four-team tournament and will play either Ithaca College or Hartwick College on February 25^th.  

This is the 35th time in the program's 38-year history that the Cardinals have advanced into the post-season.

Stevens (10-12, 7-5) has also earned a spot in the Empire 8 Championship with the win.

Fisher trailed by as many as 16 points midway through the first half.   The Ducks led 23-7 with 9:36 left in the first period, as the Cardinals opened the game on 2-of-14 shooting from the floor.   However, Fisher scored 10 of the game's next 12 points to cut the lead down to single digits. With back-to-back 3-pointers from Portia Velasco and Sarah Stefanon the lead was cut to 25-17.

Stevens led 34-20 at intermission, and extended its lead back to 16 in the opening moments of the second half before Fisher began to rally.   The Cardinals rattled off 10 straight points to make it 46-40 with 15:20 left in the game. 

Fisher cut the lead down to five points at 42-37 on a jumper from Brooke Seavitt with 12:35 remaining, but Stevens responded with a 9-1 spurt over the next four minutes to regain its double-digit advantage.

The Cardinals, trailing by 13 with five minutes left, made one last run, cutting the lead to six points at 58-52 with 2:16 left, but failed to score on their next four possessions.

Meghan Soja led Fisher on the night with 16 points, six rebounds and three steals.  Velasco dished out a career-high 10 assists, while freshman Sydney Bloomstein added 15 points.

Sophomore Camaryn Buckner finished with six points, six rebounds and six blocked shots, while Stefanon chipped in with six points and six boards.

Fisher will return to action at 2 p.m. on Saturday and will host Hartwick College.  The Hawks (19-3, 11-1) defeated host Nazareth College 56-53 tonight.