ELMIRA, NY – The Alfred University women's basketball team was at Elmira College on Saturday for an Empire 8 matchup with the Soaring Eagles.
 
 
This one came down to the final seconds but wound up in favor of Elmira as the Saxons (4-11, 0-4) fell by a score of 59-58.
 
 
Alfred got off to a hot start, as it outscored Elmira 15-5 in the opening 10 minutes.
 
 
The Soaring Eagles closed the gap by the midway point of the second quarter and tied the game at 18 before taking a 28-25 lead into halftime.
 
 
The Saxons held tight in the third period and eventually took the lead 42-41, after a Gillian Flint (Caledonia, NY / Caledonia-Mumford) three point bucket at the 2:46 mark of the quarter.
 
 
Two made free throws by Lyndsey McCoy (Middleburgh, NY / Middleburgh Central) made it 44-43 in favor of Alfred at the end of the third quarter.
 
 
The Saxons seemed to have taken control by the midway point of the fourth quarter as they managed to gain a seven point advantage with just 4:22 to play.
 
 
The Soaring Eagles remained poised though, and worked their way back to regain the lead 55-54 with just over a minute to play.
 
 
Down 57-56 with 30 seconds to play, McCoy converted a layup to put the Saxons ahead by one.
 
 
Unfortunately for AU that left time for Elmira and a foul out by the perimeter put the Soaring Eagles at the line where they were able to convert both free throws and regain the one point advantage.
 
 
The Saxons had one more chance with 14 second left in the ball game but a tough layup attempt rattled out and deflected out of bounds off of an Alfred player.
 
 
A last second heave was all that was left for AU and the Soaring Eagles came away with the tight win over AU.
 
 
Ana Ion (Bucharest, Romania / Episcopal of Jacksonville) had a team high 16 points for Alfred and also grabbed five rebounds.
 
 
Bri Hicks (Burlington, VT / Ithaca) reached double figures with 10 points and pulled down nine boards.
 
 
Samantha Pierre-Louis (Wheatley Heights, NY / Half Hallow Hills West) accounted for a team high 11 rebounds While Jamie Wilcox scored eight points and grabbed 10 boards.
 
 
McCoy finished with a team high four assists while Flint ended with eight points and nine rebounds.
 
 
Alfred will return home and be back in action next Friday as it hosts The Sage Colleges at 7:30PM.