TROY, N.Y. – Freshman Ella Eckert notched her second career double-double on Saturday to lead the St. John Fisher College women's basketball team to its third consecutive win as the Cardinals defeated The Sage Colleges, 63-56, in an Empire 8 matchup inside Kahl Gymnasium.  With the win, Fisher improved to 13-6 on the season and 7-3 in the Empire 8 conference while the Gators slipped to 10-10 on the year and 5-6 against conference opposition. 

Eckert had a career afternoon as the forward produced a new career-high with 24 points on 11-of-20 shooting to go along with a game-high 13 rebounds.  Olivia Baumann and Sam Fischer came off the bench to score 10 points each while Erin Hulbert finished with four points, seven rebounds and five assists in the win. 

With only six regular season games remaining before the Empire 8 Championship, both teams came out with a purpose as the lead changed hands five times in the opening quarter with Sage carrying a one-possession lead into the second period. 

The Gator's advantage grew to four points on their opening possession, but the lead would be short-lived as Fisher found its groove on both ends of the floor and used a 12-2 run that stretched nearly seven minutes to hold a 25-19 cushion with under two minutes to go in the half.

Holding a six-point margin, Fisher saw its lead shrink to two points after back-to-back buckets from the home team, but Baumann found some space on the perimeter and knocked down an open 3-pointer to give the Cardinals a five-point edge leading into halftime.

Coming out of the break, the Cardinals' lead would grow to nine points after two quick layups by Julia Mertsock and Leah Koonmen made it 32-23.  After swapping baskets over the next five minutes of play, Hulbert found Baumann on the block for a layup as Fisher opened up its largest lead of the game, 40-29. 

Trailing by 11 points, Sage climbed back into contention with back-to-back makes from downtown before Eckert drove the lane for a pair to put the visitors on top by seven, 43-45, with one quarter still to play.

The pace quickened considerably in the final period with both teams combining to score 42 points, however, the Gators were never able to threaten Fisher's lead.  Sage would come to within three points at the 9:11 mark of the frame, but the Cardinals responded with a 7-2 burst to push their advantage back to seven points.  From there, Sage would make it a two possession game before Fisher buried all six of its free throws over the final 27 seconds to move to 7-3 in the conference standings.

As a team, Fisher was 26-of-72 from the floor and converted 9-of-12 attempts from the charity stripe.  The Cardinals held Sage to just 34.9 percent shooting overall and turned the Gators over 14 times.

Fisher will look to keep its momentum going at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday when it travels to Alfred to take on the Saxons in an Empire 8 tilt.