ONEONTA, N.Y. – The St. John Fisher College women's basketball team fell on the road to Hartwick College, 79-68, in its regular season finale in Lambros Arena.  With the loss, Fisher slipped to 12-13 overall and 9-7 in the conference standings.  Hartwick, which will play as the Empire 8's three seed and face Ithaca College in the semifinals, finished the regular season at 17-8 and 13-3, respectively.

After falling behind by eight points midway through the first quarter, the Cardinals cut the deficit to three points after stringing together a modest 7-2 run make it 12-9.  Fisher trailed by four points in the closing seconds until Maria Kelleher buried a 3-pointer from the wing to pull Fisher to within one, 15-14, heading into the second quarter.

Jessica Rhone staked Fisher to its first lead of the game just 28 seconds into the second with a jumper to make it 16-15.  The visitors would eventually hold a three-point edge, but the tides turned.  Tied at 26-26, Hartwick went on an 8-0 run and knocked down three from downtown over the final four minutes to take a 40-33 lead into halftime.

The Hawks carried their strong shooting into the start of the third quarter as Hartwick connected on back-to-back-to-back threes as part of an 18-2 run to open up a 21-point lead, 58-37.

Trailing by 18 to start the fourth frame, Fisher would outscore the Hawks by seven in the final 10 minutes of play, but the deficit was too great to recover from as Fisher heads into the conference championship having lost its last two games.

Emily Piacentini led Fisher with 15 points including four from behind the arc.  The senior guard also had seven rebounds and five assists.  Kelleher finished with 12 points and four boards while Nicole Robinson added 10 points, seven rebounds and two blocked shots.

The Cardinals, which have earned the fourth seed in the Empire 8 Championship, will face host Stevens Institute of Technology, which earned the top overall seed, on Friday in the semifinal round of play.