The men's and women's basketball teams finally come home after a five-game road trip, facing Utica College on Friday night and Ithaca College on Saturday. Coach Marianne O'Connor Ermi's team will tip-off the Empire 8 weekend with a 6 p.m. Friday start against the Pioneers.

The women are coming off an impressive 3-0 week that saw the Cardinals take down the purple powers of the conference.

On Tuesday, Fisher traveled down the street to face East Ave rival Nazareth College, dominating most of the game behind Portia Velasco's explosive play, earning a 66-57 win. The guard finished with a game-high 19 points, using several steals for easy coast-to-coast lay-ins.

Friday saw the Cardinals travel to Elmira College where again the team used an overpowering, multi-faceted game to stump the Soaring Eagles throughout the contest. Elmira could only muster two field goals in the first 12 minutes of play due to Fisher's active defense. The Cardinals also stood out on the offensive end, shooting over 55% in the 74-61 victory.

Fisher rounded out the triumph over its purple counterparts, defeating Alfred University 74-63 on Saturday afternoon. Meghan Soja led all scorers in the game with 26 points, while Velasco added 22 points and went 10-for-10 from the charity stripe.   

The women will look to defeat Utica for the second time this season after defeating the Pioneers 77-69 on their home court earlier this year. Fisher will look to avenge its first defeat of 2012, an 82-50 loss at Ithaca College. Currently the Cardinals sit at third in the conference with a 6-3 record. The team will try to close the gap with Ithaca as the Bombers are atop the league at 8-1, tied with Hartwick College.

The men's team will try to do the same as the women. Fisher is going for a sweep of Utica after an early season 72-60 win and are trying to redeem a six-point loss to the Bombers.

Fisher went 1-2 last week, with losses to Nazareth and Alfred and a 67-50 victory over Elmira.

Jordan Gettings led the Cardinals in the win over the Soaring Eagles, scoring a game-high 21 points, while Jason Norsen chipped in 18 points and swatted six shots. Gettings, the team's lone senior, also dished out six assists and collected six boards.

With the season winding down Fisher is currently in sixth place in the Empire 8, trailing the fourth place teams (Alfred and Ithaca) by two games. If the Cardinals can sweep the weekend and have Ithaca lose to Nazareth on Friday night and Alfred lose to both Stevens and Hartwick, Fisher would move into a three-way tie for fourth place. Nazareth, Stevens and Hartwick are in a three-way tie for first in the conference with 7-2 records.

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