The St. John Fisher College women's basketball program rallied from a double-digit deficit and gave Empire 8 Conference rival Ithaca College its first league loss, as the Cardinals battled back for a 54-49 win over the visiting Bombers on Saturday afternoon.

With the win, Fisher improves to 13-4 overall and 6-2 in the Empire 8 Conference, while Ithaca falls to 13-4, 7-1.  It is the best start to a season for the Cardinals since the 2005-2006 season.

Ithaca led by 11 late in the first half, but the Cardinals went on a 5-0 spurt over the final 40 seconds of the opening period with Claire Walsh draining a 3-pointer from the corner at the buzzer to pull Fisher to within six at 28-22.

Fisher stayed hot to start the second half, scoring the first 14 points to take a 36-28 lead with 13 minutes left with a free throw from Emily Piacentini capping the 19-0 run.
 
Fisher led by as many as 10 points at 41-31 after a deep 3-pointer from Walsh with 10:52 left, but the Bombers came storming back.
 
Ithaca went on a 9-0 run to pull within one point at 41-40 with just under seven minutes left, but Fisher never relinquished its lead.
 
Senior Portia Velasco scored the next seven points for Fisher to put the Cardinals back up seven with five minutes. 
 
Ithaca pulled to within three points on two different occasions in the final moments, but couldn't get any closer.  Bridget Carney blocked a shot late in the game and junior Mary Kate Cusack scored Fisher's final seven points at the foul line to seal the win.
 
Fisher shot 39.1 percent from the floor for the game, while the Bombers shot 25.9 percent for the contest, including 15.2 percent (5-for-33) in the second half.
 
Velasco led the Cardinals with 18 points, while Cusack finished with 17.  Senior Sydney Bloomstein totaled a team-best three steals.
 
McKenzie Bezon finished with a team-high eight rebounds.
 
Fisher returns to action at 6 p.m. on Friday at Nazareth College.