ALFRED, NY - Hartwick senior Lauren Ploof (Hammond, NY/Hammond) hit a jumper from the left side of the basket as time expired to lift the Hawks past Alfred University 46-44 on Sunday afternoon. The Saxons (9-10, 3-7 E8) battled back from a 10-point deficit with five minutes left to tie the game before Ploof's heroics. Hartwick improves to 6-13 and 4-7 in the Empire 8 standings.
With the win, the fifth-place Hawks keep their conference postseason hopes alive as they trail fourth-place St. John Fisher by two games with five to play for the final playoff berth.
Neither team managed a lead of more than four points in the first 19 minutes in a highly-contested first half of play. The score was tied six times and the lead changed hands five times before the intermission. A three-pointer from Shamia Dean (Rensselaer, NY/Rensselaer) and a layup from Marie Davison (Gansevoort, NY/Saratoga Springs) in the closing stages of the period gave the Hawks a 27-22 lead heading into the second half.
The Hawks put some distance between them and the Saxons in the second half as a 12-4 run over a seven-minute time period gave 'Wick a 42-31 edge with less than 10 minutes to go.
With five minutes remaining, the Hawks still held a 10-point lead (44-34) but they would go 0-for-5 with three turnovers until the game's final shot. Alfred would go 6-for-6 from the free-throw line and a Lisa Button jumper with 26 seconds tied the score at 44-44.
On Hartwick's final possession, the Saxons forced a jump ball with just over five ticks left but the arrow went to the Hawks setting the stage for Ploof's game-winner. She drove to the left side of the rim near the baseline, pulled up and over a pair of Alfred defenders and sank the shot as the final horn sounded.
Heather Pruchansky (Naples, FL/Community School of Naples) led Hartwick in scoring on the day with 13. Ploof and Jalicia Connell (Westbury, NY/Hickville) each finished with six points. As a team, the Hawks shot 38.6% (17-for-44) and hit 5-of-23 from three-point range. 'Wick held the Saxons to just 22.2% shooting (12-of-54).
Alfred connected on just one of 14 attempts from distance on the day. Alfred's Lyndsay Murphy paced her team with 10 points. Alysha Dias contributed eight points and a game-high 11 rebounds.
The Hawks next travel to Rochester on February 5th to take on the Nazareth Golden Flyers in an Empire 8 contest. The game is slated for 6 p.m.
