BUFFALO, NY – The Alfred University women's basketball team played in the Betty Abgott Invitational final on Saturday afternoon against Thiel College. The Saxons (1-2, 0-0 Empire 8) made a late run to get it close in the fourth quarter but it was too, little too late as AU fell to the Tomcats by a score of 77-70.
 
Theil came out strong in the opening quarter outscoring the Saxons 19-10. The Tomcats continued their strong play in the second to extend their lead to 13, making the score 40-27 at halftime. Alfred came out with more intensity in the second half and held even with Theil in the third quarter to make the score 58-45 after three. AU put up 25 points in the fourth quarter and outscored the Tomcats by six points but were unable to close the deficit.
 
"Today we came out lethargic and two steps slow in the first half, leading to them hitting a ton of easy threes and right hand drives," Head Coach Mike Moskowitz said. "While we started slow and not with the sharpest focus, we never gave up."
 
Jamie Wilcox (Forestville, NY/Pine Valley) continued her strong play with 24 points, six rebounds and three steals. Wilcox was also named to the all-tournament team. Bri Hicks (Burlington, VT/Ithaca) scored 12 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Chloe Kottwitz (Bolivar, NY/Bolivar-Richburg) had 10 points and four assists while Amanda Figueroa (Cypress, TX/Rosehill Christian) and Lyndsey McCoy (Middleburgh, NY/Middleburgh Central) had eight points each.
 
"I want to give them credit for fighting back from down 22 in the fourth and cutting it to as low as six," Moskowitz said. "Unfortunately it was too little too late and the sluggish first half really put us in a tough spot to complete the comeback. As always we will take some positives and negatives from this game and be sure to learn from it moving forward."
 
The Saxons will be back at home on November 27^th for a matchup with SUNY Geneseo at 6PM.