ONEONTA, N.Y. – The St. John Fisher College women's basketball team nearly erased a double-digit lead on Saturday, but ultimately saw its season come to a close as the Cardinals fell to top-seeded Hartwick College, 69-62, in the Empire 8 Championship game inside Lambros Arena.  The Cardinals, who were playing in their second consecutive conference title game, ended the season at 19-8 while the Hawks, who improved to 23-4, claimed the Empire 8 crown with the win and earned the Empire 8's automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship.

Sam Fischer led the Cardinals with a career-high 14 points in 13 minutes off the bench while Leah Koonmen concluded her freshman campaign with 11 points to go along with six rebounds and three assists.  Ella Eckert added seven points, four boards and three dimes in the loss while senior Erin Hulbert, who was named the Empire 8 Defensive Player of the Year for the second consecutive season, wrapped up her career with two points, four rebounds and five helpers.  Sydney Masna netted seven points in 27 minutes while Julia Mertsock finished with nine points and five rebounds.

Trailing by one point after 10 minutes of play, Mertsock would stake the Cardinals to their first lead of the game, 16-15, with a jumper just 28 seconds into the second period.  The lead would change hands five more times over the next six minutes before the Hawks strung together an 8-0 run to close out the half with a 33-24 lead.

Hartwick carried its momentum into the third quarter after starting the period with six unanswered points before Koonmen halted the bleeding with an old-fashioned 3-point play to make it a 12-point game, 39-27.

From there, Hartwick's lead would grow to 17 points before the Cardinals found their footing to the tune of a 9-2 run over the final four minutes of play to head into the final quarter facing a 10-point gap, 49-39.

As the fourth quarter got underway, the Hawks would use an 8-2 run to open up their largest lead of the game, 65-45.  Trailing by 20 points with time running out, the Cardinals connected on back-to-back 3-pointers from Miranda Lynch and Leah Koonmen to pull to within 14. 

After trading baskets, Fisher would cut the deficit to single digits, but the hole was too deep as time ran out on the comeback bid with Hartwick earning its first Empire 8 title in program history.

As a team, Fisher was 23-of-56 from the field and converted 12-of-18 from the free throw stripe.  The Cardinals out-rebounded their opponent in the game and were credited with 15 assists 10 steals overall.