The St. John Fisher College women's basketball will travel to Ithaca College this weekend for the Empire 8 Championship.

The third-seeded Cardinals (19-6 overall, 12-4 Empire 8) will square off against No. 2 Stevens Institute of Technology (22-3, 14-2) in the second semifinal matchup at 8 p.m. on Friday.  No. 1 Ithaca (21-4, 15-1) will host No. 4 Nazareth College (15-10, 10-6) in the first semifinal game at 6 p.m.

The two winners will play at 4 p.m. Saturday in the title game at Ithaca with the winner earning an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Championship.

Fisher, winners of six of the last seven contests, look to get the best of Stevens for the first time this season.  The Cardinals fell both times during the season, most recently on Saturday, 73-64, and losing at home, 70-61.  Fisher handed Ithaca its only conference loss this season taking care of business 54-49 at Manning and Napier Gymnasium, while the Cardinals split the season series with the Golden Flyers with each squad holding serve on its home court.

The second semifinal game will feature the top scoring offense in the Empire 8 as Fisher puts up 72.2 points per game, while Stevens boasts the top scoring defense surrendering just 54.1 points per game.  Fisher's high-powered offense features First Team All-Conference selections Mary Kate Cusack and Portia Velasco who rank second and sixth, respectively in the conference.  Cusack is averaging 16.6 points per game, while Velasco is close behind at 14.9.

Stevens bolsters the Empire 8 Player of the Year in Kaitlyn Astel who led the conference in scoring with 16.6 points per game.  The Ducks only two losses in conference play came at the hands of the Bombers.

Fisher is searching for its first Empire 8 crown since the 2005-06 season.  The Cardinals are 4-9 all-time in Empire 8 tournament action.