Women's Basketball

'Wick Women's Basketball Drops Fisher

ROCHESTER, NY - Visiting Hartwick College made 11 3-pointers, including seven in the second half to down St. John Fisher College 80-70 in the Empire 8 Conference women's basketball opening game for both teams on Friday night at Manning and Napier Gym in Rochester. With the win, Hartwick improves to 5-3 overall, while Fisher falls to 4-2 overall and 0-1 in the Empire 8.

The Hawks' victory snaps a seven-game losing streak to the Cardinals dating back to the 2004-2005 season. The Hawks, who shot 55% from 3-point range for the game, last tasted victory over Fisher in a 69-59 road win on January 22, 2005.

Fisher led 32-27 at intermission, but the Hawks came out on fire in the second half. Hartwick took the lead for good at 36-34 on a layup from Krystle Crouse (Canajoharie, NY) and quickly pushed its lead to 11, 51-40, as the Hawks shot 5-for-6 from beyond the arc over the opening six minutes of the second half, with three 3's coming from Heather Pruchansky (Naples, FL) and two from Katie Caddell (Amsterdam, NY).

Marissa Canori, who finished with a career-high 15 points, cut the lead to four points at 66-62 with 4:51 left, and again with 1:51 left, but St. John Fisher failed to get any closer. Mary Kate Comfort finished with a season-high 16 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the floor, and also grabbed a game-best 13 rebounds. Freshman Kristi Jeffres hauled in 10 boards and finished with nine points.

Fritzi Flores (Bergenfield, NJ) finished with a career-high 20 points for the Hawks, with Lauren Ploof (Hammond, NY) and Caddell adding 13 and 11, respectively.

Hartwick will travel up East Avenue to play Nazareth College tomorrow at 2 p.m. while Fisher will return to action hosting Stevens Institute of Technology.