BOX SCORE

The St. John Fisher College women's basketball program ended the game with a 12-1 run and knocked off visiting Ithaca College (13-2, 5-1) 63-59 on Friday night at Fisher's Bobby Wanzer Court.

With the win, Fisher improves to 7-10 overall and 4-4 in the Empire 8.   The wins snaps avenges a 48-43 loss in overtime to Ithaca 13 days ago.

Ithaca, who was receiving votes in the d3hoops.com poll, led 55-48 with 5:59 left, but didn't score a field goal for the remainder of the game.   The Cardinals chipped away at the lead and to a 59-58 advantage on a 3-pointer from Portia Velasco with 33 seconds left.   After a steal by Brooke Seavitt, Mary Kate Cusack pushed Fisher's lead to three with two made three free throws with 24 seconds left.  Ithaca converted on 1-of-2 free throws at the other end, but Seavitt, who snagged the defensive rebound with 3.3 seconds left, sealed the win with two free throws.

The Cardinals got it done at the charity stripe, going 9-for-10 for the game, while Ithaca was 7-for-15, including 4-of-10 in the second half.

The Bombers seemed in control early on.   Ithaca jumped out to a 7-0 lead and led by as many as nine points at 27-18 with 5:49 left, but Fisher answered with an 8-0 run to pull within one at 27-26 on a 3-pointer from Sydney Bloomstein.  After back-to-back buckets by the Bombers, Fisher's Portia Velasco tied the game at 31s going into the locker room, banking in a shot from just inside half-court.

Fisher took its first lead of the game on the opening possession of the second half on a pull-up jumper from Velasco.   The Cardinal took a 40-37 lead on a put-back from Seavitt with just 15:28 left, but the Bombers rallied.  Ithaca went on a 13-0 run over the next six minutes to take a double-digit lead.

Cusack led the Cardinals on the night with 17 points and four steals.   Velasco finished with 16 points, while Bloomstein tallied nine.

Fisher will return to action at 8 p.m. on Tuesday at Alfred University.