ELMIRA, N.Y. – The St. John Fisher College women's basketball team picked up its sixth win in conference play on Tuesday night as the Cardinals downed Elmira College, 59-53, in Speidel Gymnasium.  With the win, Fisher is now 9-10 overall and 6-4 in the Empire 8 while Elmira fell to 6-12 on the season and 2-7 in conference play.

It was an up and down first quarter of play as the Cardinals led by as many as eight points after Emily Piacentini rained a 3-pointer to make it 15-7.  The lead wouldn't hold for the Cardinals though as Elmira closed out the opening frame with eight unanswered points including a buzzer-beating layup to hold a 16-15 lead heading into the second period.

Fisher would retake control of the game from the onset of the second as the Cardinals turned up the intensity on both ends of the floor.  Head coach Marianne O'Connor Ermi's squad built a six-point lead, 24-18, after holding Elmira to just one field goal over the first five minutes of the quarter.  The Soaring Eagles regrouped, however, and cut the deficit to one, 24-23, but Caroline Robertson knocked down four free throws in the final 45 seconds to send both teams into the locker rooms with the Cardinals holding a 28-25 edge.

In the third quarter, Fisher began to pull away as the Cardinals outscored the Soaring Eagles, 12-2 over the period's first five minutes of play to hold a 40-27 lead.  Fisher would maintain a double-digit lead as the quarter ticked away until the home team strung together five quick points over the stanza's final two minutes to make it 44-37 in the Cardinals' favor heading into the fourth.

Robertson would push Fisher's lead back to double figures to start the final quarter after converting an old-fashioned 3-point play, but Elmira followed suit with a 3-pointer of its own to come to within seven points.  From there, St. John Fisher would open up a 13-point lead after back-to-back layups from Robertson and Liga Kalnina to make it 55-42.  Elmira made things interesting at the end as it closed out the game with a 7-0 run, but time ran out as the Cardinals won, 59-53.

Robertson scored a game-high 20 points and was 8-of-9 from the free throw line in the win.  The junior also contributed nine rebounds and three assists overall.  Piacentini stuffed the box score and finished with 12 points, six boards and five helpers while Jessica Rhone added eight points and six rebounds for the Cardinals.   Kalnina played well with seven points and seven rebounds in 16 minutes.

The Cardinals begin a four-game home stand at 2 p.m. on Saturday when they host Utica College on Bobby Wanzer Court in another Empire 8 Conference pairing.