PITTSFORD, N.Y. – The St. John Fisher College women's basketball team recorded its second Empire 8 Conference victory of the season on Friday evening as the Cardinals held off The Sage Colleges 68-63 inside Manning & Napier Varsity Gymnasium. With the win, the Cardinals improve to 8-4 overall and 2-1 in the conference while Sage falls to 6-6 overall and 1-2 in Empire 8 play.

After falling behind by four points heading into the second quarter of action, Fisher quickly found its scoring touch and would open up a 15-3 scoring run within the first six and a half minutes of the quarter. Sydney Masna and Maisy Booth both were able to notch four points apiece throughout the early scoring run.

As the second quarter of play wore on, the Fisher offense continued its hot shooting as Miranda Lynch answered a Sage three-pointer with one of her own, putting the Cardinals ahead 29-20 with 2:44 remaining until halftime. From there, it was all Fisher as an Erin Hulbert hard-earned layup propelled the Cardinals onto a 9-0 scoring run to end the second quarter, giving them a 38-20 advantage heading into halftime. The 27 total points scored in the second quarter, was the most scored in a single quarter this season by the Fisher offense.

As the third quarter got underway, the Sage offense was able to find its scoring touch and claw its way back to within four points late in the third quarter. However it was Hulbert again this time from three-point land, as the senior pushed the Cardinal lead back to seven points heading into the final quarter of action.

Both teams battled back-and-forth as the fourth quarter began, with neither side able to breakaway. Following another Sage three-point basket, the Cardinals took advantage of consecutive Gator turnovers as back-to-back layups from Hulbert and Mallory Wood put Fisher back ahead by eight points with just over two minutes remaining in regulation.

It was at the 2:05 mark where Sage made its comeback effort, draining two consecutive three-pointers and cutting the Fisher advantage to just three points. However once again it was the senior Hulbert to step up for the Cardinals, as she drained another long-range bucket bringing the lead back to six points.

From there, the Cardinals free-throw shooting sealed the hard-earned conference victory as Masna and Hulbert combined to shoot 6-6 from the charity stripe in the final 13 seconds, giving Fisher its second conference win of the season.

Hulbert led the way for Fisher notching a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds to go along with four assists, while Masna provided 16 points and two rebounds off the bench. Freshman Ella Eckert made her second start of the season and contributed eight points and a season-high 10 rebounds. Fellow freshman Booth added eight points of her own to go along with another five rebounds.

Fisher returns to action at 2 p.m. on Saturday when it welcomes Stevens to Bobby Wanzer Court for another Empire 8 Conference matchup.