ITHACA, N.Y. – The St. John Fisher College women's basketball team suffered a 58-41 setback on the road to Ithaca College on Saturday in an Empire 8 battle inside Ben Light Gymnasium. With the loss, Fisher, which had won its last two contests, slipped to 8-10 overall and 5-4 against Empire 8 opponents. The Bombers improved to 15-3 on the season and 7-2 in the conference standings.
Chelsea Repard led the way for Fisher with 10 points on 3-of-5 shooting from downtown.
Nicole Robinson finished with nine points and seven rebounds while
Erin Hulbert added eight points, seven rebounds and two assists at the guard position.
Liga Kalnina and
Alyssa Robens combined to score 11 points.
Emily Piacentini caused trouble on the defensive end of the floor as the senior accounted for four steals.
The Bombers jumped out to a quick lead after scoring eight of the opening period's first 10 points, but Hulbert would pull Fisher to within one possession after burying a 3-pointer on the wing to make it 8-5 midway through the first quarter.
The two teams exchanged baskets over the next two minutes before Ithaca bridged the first and second stanzas with a 13-2 run to make it 24-11 in the home team's favor. Down by double-digits, the Cardinals cut Ithaca's lead to six points after scoring nine of the game's next 11 points including four at the free throw line to bring the score to 26-20 before a pair of foul shots by Ithaca closed out the half with the Cardinals trailing by 10, 30-20.
Coming out of intermission, Fisher was unable to match Ithaca's pace as the Bombers built a 21-point lead, 44-23, courtesy of an 18-3 run, which lasted over seven minutes. The Cardinals, who scored three field goals in the quarter including a buzzer-beating jumper by Hulbert, went 5:51 between baskets before stringing together five quick points to end the third quarter down 44-29.
In the fourth frame, Fisher came to within 13 points, 44-31, when
Alex Reigle found Robens for an open jumper, but the Bombers' offense produced seven straight points to push the advantage back to 20 points with 4:32 left to play.
Fisher continued to battle down the stretch and would come to within 16 points, 56-40, as Repard drilled a shot from behind the arc, but time would run out on the Cardinals as Ithaca picked up its seventh conference win of the season, 58-41.
Collectively, Fisher shot 13-of-48 (.271) from the field and knocked down four from distance. The Cardinals were also active on the offensive glass and accounted for 16 offensive rebounds.
Fisher will close out its three-game road trip at 6 p.m. on Tuesday when it faces Elmira College in Empire 8 play.
