PITTSFORD, N.Y. – The St. John Fisher College women's basketball team fell in the Empire 8 Championship game, 52-47, to Stevens Institute of Technology on Saturday inside Manning and Napier Varsity Gymnasium on Bobby Wanzer Court.  The loss, which snapped a 14-game winning streak for the Cardinals and marked the team's first defeat since January 12, moved Fisher to 21-6 on the season.  The Ducks, who have now won the conference crown three times overall, improved to 15-12 on the season and earned the Empire 8's automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship, which is slated to begin next week.

Fisher will now await word on its postseason fate as the NCAA Selection Show will take place at 2:30 p.m. on Monday.  To watch the selection show, CLICK HERE.

After scoring just 18 points over the first 20 minutes of action, Fisher found itself trailing the Ducks by 15 in the third quarter after Stevens began the period with a jumper from the top of the key.  Caroline Robertson kick started an 8-2 run with an old-fashioned 3-point play capped off by a 3-pointer from Chelsea Repard as the Cardinals cut the deficit to nine points with 6:27 left to play in the frame.

The lead would balloon back to 13 points after four unanswered points from Stevens made it 44-31, but the Cardinals found their rhythm and bridged the third and fourth quarters with a 7-0 burst including five points from Nicole Robinson to pull to within six, 44-38, with just under six minutes left to play in the game.

From there, the two teams swapped points down the stretch until a jumper from Erin Hulbert began a string of six straight points as Fisher forced Stevens into a timeout to regroup.  With the Ducks leading by just one, 48-47, and momentum favoring the home team with under a minute to go, Megan Brown, who was named the Championship's most valuable player, got the ball inside and drew a foul before stepping to the line and sinking a pair of free throws to extend the lead to three with 34 seconds left.

Trailing by three with time winding down, head coach Melissa Kuberka called a timeout to set up a play.  Coming out of the huddle, Fisher worked its offense and came away with three shots including two 3-pointers, but the Cardinals would come up short as the Ducks drained two more free throws en route to the conference title.

Robinson and Robertson each finished with 13 points and seven rebounds overall.  Robinson, who was named to the All-Tournament Team following the championship, also added three blocked shots while Robertson had four assists.  Hulbert added 10 points of her own and had eight boards and three assists in 40 minutes.  Liga Astra Kalnina had five points and six rebounds.

As a team, Fisher was 18-of-67 (.269) from the floor and had 11 assists in all.  Defensively, the team forced Stevens into 20 turnovers and came away with nine steals overall.