The St. John Fisher College women's basketball program used a 14-2 run late in the game to pull past host Hartwick College for a 74-57 win on Friday night in an Empire 8 Conference matchup.
 
With the win, Fisher, ranked No. 6 in the NCAA Division III East Region, improves to 19-5 overall and 12-3 in the Empire 8.
 
 The 19 wins marks the most victories in a season in head coach Marianne O'Connor Ermi's seven-year career and the most victories since the 2005-2006 campaign.  That year, Fisher won the Empire 8 Conference Championship and posted a 25-3 overall record.
 
Hartwick jumped out to an 8-2 lead in the opening four minutes of the games, as the Cardinals made just one of their first 10 shots, but answered with a 17-0 run over the next five minutes to take the 19-8 lead.

The Hawks, however, hung in there, and responded with a 14-3 spurt, knotting the game at 22s with just over seven minutes left in the half.
 
Fisher, who led 38-34 at the half, opened the second period with a 10-1 run over the first six minutes and took its then biggest lead at 55-41 on a layup from Lunden Cunningham with just over 10 minutes left in the game.
 
Hartwick answered with an 11-0 run, cutting Fisher's lead down to three points at 55-52 with 6:58 left, but couldn't get any closer.
 
Fisher went on a 14-2 run over the next five minutes – sparked by back-to-back 3-pointers from Portia Velasco – and didn't allow a Hartwick field goal for the remainder of the game.
 
Senior Sydney Bloomstein scored a season-high 21 points (two shy of her career high).  Velasco finished with 17 points and five rebounds, while Mary Kate Cusack added 17 points and five steals. 
 
Cunningham tallied nine points and five boards off the bench, while freshman Nicole Robinson led her team with seven rebounds.  McKenzie Bezon totaled a team-best five assists.
 
Fisher returns to action at 3 p.m. on Saturday at Stevens Institute of Technology in the final Empire 8 game of the regular season.   The two teams will play again at 8 p.m. next Friday at Ithaca College in the semifinals of the Empire 8 Conference Championship.   The winner of Saturday's game will earn the No. 2 seed, while the loser will be the No. 3 seed.