Women's Basketball

Hawks Win Third Straight With 78-62 Victory Over ACP

ONEONTA, NY - Hartwick went on a 19-5 run in a six-minute second-half span to turn a seven-point lead into a 21-point edge on its way to a 78-62 victory over Albany College of Pharmacy (9-6) on Tuesday night at Binder Gymnasium. The Hawks are now winners of three straight games and improve to 8-9. The Panthers drop to 9-6.

Cassie Dresser (Ovid, NY) led four players in double figures for Hartwick with a career-high 15 points. Lauren Ploof (Hammond, NY) and Fritzi Flores (Bergenfield, NJ) each scored 14 points and Katie Caddell (Amsterdam, NY) chipped in with 11.

Pam Leonardi (New Milford, NJ) and Amber Batzold (East Greenbush, NY) each registered double-doubles for the Panthers. Leonardi finished the game with 15 points and 11 boards. Batzold recorded 10 points and 10 rebounds, and Kelly VanValkenburgh (Hunter, NY) dropped in 14 points.

The Hawks jumped out to a double digit lead, 21-11, midway through the first half and maintained at least a 16-point advantage for the final six minutes of the opening period. The Hawks led 34-18 at the break with Dresser pacing the Hawks with nine points, Heather Pruchansky (Naples, FL) adding eight, and Ploof scoring seven.

The Hawks looked to cruise in the second half, but the Panthers had other ideas going on an 18-9 run in the opening seven minutes to cut the lead to seven points, 43-36. Batzold dropped in eight points with VanValkenburgh adding five in the Panther spurt.

'Wick would turn up the intensity in a quick 8-0 run to build the advantage back up to double figures, and the Blue and White would score 28 of the next 37 points to build a 71-47 edge with 4:22 to play. The Panthers ended the game with a 15-7 run to get the final deficit down to 16.

Hartwick shot a season-high 45% (25 for 56) from the field as a team. The Panthers shot just 31% and held a 45-44 edge in rebounds for the game.

The Hawks look to make it four in a row this weekend with a pair of Empire 8 games at Binder Gymnasium. 'Wick hosts St. John Fisher Friday at 6 p.m. and Nazareth on Sunday at noon. Earlier this season, the Hawks downed the Cardinals on the road, 80-70, before falling the next day to the Golden Flyers, 63-39.