ALFRED, NY – A hot shooting start by St. John Fisher pushed the Cardinals past the Alfred University women's basketball team, as the Saxons fell by a 91-45 score in Empire 8 action from the Terry S. Galanis Family Arena Saturday afternoon.
The Saxons (2-3, 2-2 Empire 8) shot just 25.5 percent (13-of-58) from the floor and 31 percent (9-of-29) from beyond the arc but tallied eight steals in the effort. Fisher (7-2, 5-1 Empire 8) shot a healthy 41 percent (34-of-83) from the field and collected 29 offensive rebounds.
Leah Harkenrider (Hornell, NY/Hornell) led the Saxons with 12 points and three rebounds.
Lyndsey McCoy (Middleburgh, NY/Middleburgh Central) tallied eight points on 2-of-4 shooting from the field, adding two steals.
Kaitlyn Walker tallied 22 points and nine rebounds for the Cardinals, while Claire Kruszka notched an 18-point, 11-rebound double-double.
"Fisher is a really good team," said head coach
Mike Moskowitz. "We tried some new things and tried to take away the inside, and they shot the heck out of it to start… that falls on me schematically. It could have been very easy to give in and give up, but we have a pretty cohesive unit that just kept fighting and they stayed positive for 40 minutes."
The Cardinals jumped out on a 12-3 run to open up the contest. Harkenrider broke the Fisher run with a 3-pointer, but the Cardinals kept up the pressure, outscoring the Saxons 21-2 to take a 33-8 lead after one. Fisher would stretch its lead to as many as 45 points, before the Saxons closed the half on a 12-4 run, capped off by consecutive 3-pointers by Harkenrider, as AU trailed 61-24 at the break.
The Saxons outscored the Cardinals 16-15 in the third quarter, holding the visitors to just 25.5 percent (6-of-24) shooting from the field in the period. The hosts were unable to keep that offensive momentum into the fourth period, but stayed strong on the defensive end, holding the Cardinals to just 15 fourth-quarter points.
The Saxons will travel to Nazareth for a midweek matchup in Rochester, beginning at 8 p.m.
