HOBOKEN, N.J. – The fourth-seeded St. John Fisher College women's basketball team nearly upset top-seeded Stevens Institute of Technology on Friday before a late push gave the Ducks a 62-58 win in the semifinal round of the Empire 8 Championship inside Canavan Arena.  With the loss, Fisher's season comes to an end at 12-14 while the Ducks, who improved to 16-9 with the win, will face off with second-seeded Ithaca College at 4 p.m. on Saturday for the conference crown. 

After falling behind by five points with one quarter of play in the books, the Cardinals would cut the gap to just one point as Liga Kalnina scored inside to make it 15-14 in the second quarter.  The game would go over three minutes without a field goal before Stevens put together a 7-0 run to jump back out to an eight-point lead, 22-14, but Fisher continued to battle and eventually cut it to a one-point gap on a pair of free throws by Caroline Robertson.  With just seconds to go in the half and up by a point, Stevens heaved a final second shot that found it mark as the Cardinals went into their locker room down three, 27-24.

Stevens found its groove in the third period and eventually built a 12-point lead after outscoring Fisher, 21-14.  The Ducks' momentum continued as the fourth quarter got underway as the hosts controlled the pace of play en route to a 13-point advantage, 57-44, with just 4:07 left to play in the game.

From there, Stevens grasp started to slip as the Cardinals orchestrated an 11-1 run over the next 3:27 fueled by 3-pointers from Erin Hulbert and Maria Kelleher to come all the way back to knot things up at 58-58 with 40 seconds left on the clock.

The momentum would fall short, however, as Stevens scored the contest's final four points and earned a spot in Saturday's title game.

Emily Piacentini, who was named to the All-Tournament Team, scored a game-high 21 points to go along with four rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals.  Kelleher finished with 10 points and seven boards while Robertson added nine points, six rebounds and two assists for Fisher.