BOX SCORE

The St. John Fisher College women's basketball team played its second overtime game in less than 24 hours, falling 48-43 against the Ithaca College Bombers in extra time. The overtime game was also the fourth-straight affair that Fisher has played an extra period, including a double overtime loss to Rochester Institute of Technology. Fisher is now 1-3 in overtime outings this season.

With the loss, Fisher falls to 5-8 on the season and 2-2 in the Empire 8 Conference while Ithaca improves to 10-1, 3-0. The game featured 10 lead changes and seven ties.

The loss came despite an impressive performance by Camaryn Buckner, who recorded her fifth double-double of the season and 18th of her career, scoring 15 points and grabbing 13 rebounds. Five of the boards came off the offensive glass, giving the Cardinals second opportunities, while the junior also had two steals.

At the end of regulation, the Cardinals trailed 41-38 with 31 seconds remaining and had possession. After a full timeout, Fisher inbounded the ball and Mary Kate Cusack tied up the affair with a 3-pointer. The tie held until the final buzzer, sending the game into extra time.

The Cardinals, however, could only muster two points on a Portia Velasco jump shot in the overtime as Ithaca pulled away for the win.

Cassie Pope hit two free throws with 7:35 left in the second half to give the Cardinals their largest lead of the game at 35-29. Ithaca closed the gap over the next 3:01, taking a one-point advantage after a 7-0 run.

After Velasco opened Fisher's scoring with a 3-pointer in the first half, the Cardinals had trouble finding the basket as a team, with only Buckner scoring over the next 15:48. In this span, Buckner scored 11 points to keep the Cardinals within reach of the Bombers.

Ithaca had a traditional 3-point play at the 7:15 mark of the first half when Fisher turned on the pressure and created havoc on defense. The Cardinals stole the ball three times over the final 2:44 of the opening period and did not allow a Bomber field goal in the final 7:15. Velasco hit back-to-back jumpers to stop the Buckner scoring streak, knotting the game up at 18-18 with 1:46 left in the half.

Sydney Bloomstein hit a jumper with 1:14 remaining to give the Cardinals a 20-18 lead that would hold heading into the locker rooms. That jumper proved to be the only Fisher points from players not named Velasco or Buckner in the opening stanza.

Both teams shot poorly in the game, with each shooting under 30% from both the field and the 3-point line. Fisher held an advantage at the free-throw line, shooting 87.5% (7-for-8) while Ithaca shot just 57.9% (11-for-19). The Bombers held an advantage on the glass, however, outrebounding Fisher 49-34.

Velasco finished with 11 points, five steals and four assists while Cusack added eight points.

Fisher will return to action at 6 p.m. on Friday when it travels to Hartwick College for another Empire 8 matchup.