ROCHESTER, NY – The Alfred University women's basketball team fell in its Empire 8 conference-opener on Tuesday evening at #19 nationally-ranked, St. John Fisher College, dropping to a score of 69-58.
 
The Saxons (5-4, 0-1 Empire 8) led the entire game until the last shot of the third quarter as the Cardinals (8-0, 1-0 Empire 8) hit a 3-pointer with four seconds remaining in the quarter. "I am so proud of our effort and toughness showed tonight. Fisher is a great team - well coached, disciplined, tough and they just put constant pressure on the defense with their inside-out play," Head Coach Mike Moskowitz said. "I definitely think I could have done a better job tonight in that second half helping stem the tide as they made their run. We got some great looks there in the second half, but unfortunately, our legs got heavy and we missed most of those late.
 
Grace Rittenhouse (Dansville, NY/Dansville) led the Saxons with 14 points, hitting four 3-pointers on the night while chipping in three defensive rebounds, three assists and one steal. Karly Welty (Portville, NY/Portville Central) followed with 13 points, going perfect from 3-point land by hitting all three of her attempts. Overall, she was 5-of-6 from the floor while adding two steals, one block and two rebounds.
 
Both Gillian Flint (Caledonia, NY/Caledonia-Mumford) and Ana Ion (Bucharest, Romania/Episcopal School of Jacksonville) had eight rebounds for a team-high. Ion had five offensive to lead the Saxons in that category. Flint led in steals with five. Allison O'Toole (Simi Valley, CA/Simi Valley) had a team-high six assists.
 
AU held a commanding halftime lead, 35-24 after only allowing only seven Fisher points in the second quarter. The Saxons even extended their lead to 13 points to start the second half off a Welty layup, making it a 37-24 lead. St. John Fisher responded with a 14-3 run as the Saxons got into early foul trouble, committing five fouls before the halfway mark of the period.
 
Despite some push back from Alfred that upped the score, 49-43 from a Leah Harkenrider (Hornell, NY/Hornell) layup with 2:52 to go in the third quarter, Fisher closed out and went into the fourth with its first lead of the night after going on a 7-0 run.

The Saxons are coming off of a three-game, non-conference game series where two of the three teams were also nationally-ranked. "For us to be challenged and play three Top-20 teams the last two weeks is definitely going to pay off for us long term. Again, just so proud to coach this group and appreciate them pouring their hearts out tonight," Coach Moskowitz said.
 
The Saxons will next travel to Keuka College for their second Empire 8 matchup of the season. The E8 contest will have a 5:30pm tip-off on Friday, January 7.