BOX SCORE
Fourth-seeded St. John Fisher College had its season come to an end of Friday as the Cardinals dropped a 73-69 decision to host Ithaca College in the semifinals of the Empire 8 Conference Women's Basketball Championship.

With the loss, Fisher finishes the season with an overall record of 16-10, while Ithaca, the tournament's top seed, improves to 22-4 and will play either Hartwick College or Stevens Institute of Technology at 4 p.m. on Saturday in the championship game.

Fisher was the better team for most of the first half.  The Cardinals jumped out to a 6-2 lead in the opening 100 seconds and a 3-pointer from Mary Kate Cusack with 13:07 remaining in the first half put the Cardinals up 15-7.  The Cardinals led 22-18 with just under seven minutes left in the opening period, but Ithaca went on a 7-0 run to take its first lead of the game at 25-22 with five minutes remaining.   After a Fisher timeout, the Cardinals regrouped and answered with a 7-2 run to regain the lead at 29-27 with just over one minute left in the half.

Ithaca led 31-29 at the break and the second half featured several ties and lead-changes.   Fisher led 46-43 on a 3-pointer from Cusack made it 46-43 Fisher, but Ithaca answered with a 10-2 run to take the lead for good at 53-48 with 6:31 remaining.

Fisher cut the lead down to one point on a three different occasions in the final minutes – including a 3-pointer from Sydney Bloomstein with 1:40 left – but could never regain the lead.   Up one point at 65-64, Ithaca hit a 3-pointer from the corner with 48 seconds remaining and sealed the game at the foul line.

For Fisher, junior Portia Velasco tallied a team-high 27 points.  She also added six boards and three assists.   Senior Camaryn Buckner, playing in the final game of her career, tallied yet another double-double, totaling 16 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks.

Cusack ended the game with 15 points and three steals.