BOX SCORE

Portia Velasco scored a career-high 34 points, as the St. John Fisher College women's basketball team defeated the Hartwick College Hawks 68-57 on Friday night.  With the win, the Cardinals improve to 7-6 in the Empire 8 and 12-12 overall.  Hartwick falls to 9-4 in the Conference and 17-7 on the year with the loss.

Velasco had the hot hand in the game, as she went a perfect 10-for-10 from the floor in the outing.  The sophomore, who has made 14-consecutive field goals between this game and Tuesday's game at Nazareth, only missed twice on the night, as she shot 12-for-14 from the charity stripe.  It was the most points scored by a Fisher player since Colleen Maloney netted 35 during the 2010-11 season in a 70-68 overtime win against Ramapo College.

The Cardinals scored the game's first five points, and from that point on they would never trail.  The home team held a 27-23 lead at the break, and Hartwick opened the second aggressively, pulling within one-point at 30-29.  However, they would never be able to take over the lead.

The Hawks put the pressure on later in the half as well, when Maria Foglia hit a jumper to cut the Cardinal lead to four points at 46-42, forcing a Fisher timeout.  However, the Cardinals came out of the huddle hot, as Mary Kate Cusack and Sydney Bloomstein nailed back-to-back three pointers to make the score 52-42 with just over three minutes remaining.

Velasco picked up five steals in the game, while teammate Camaryn Buckner had her ninth double-double of the season with 12 points and 15 rebounds.   Bloomstein also finished in double-digit scoring with 11 points.

With one game left, Fisher, Utica, Stevens and Nazareth are all tied for third place in the Empire 8 standings with the top four teams earning a spot in the Empire 8 Conference Championship.

The Cardinals will return to action on Saturday at 4 p.m., as they face Stevens Institute of Technology in the pivotal Empire 8 Conference match-up.  A Fisher win will guarantee the Cardinals the No. 3 seed in the tournament.