ALFRED, NY – The Alfred University women's basketball team secured a gritty 59-54 victory over a top-five Empire 8 team in Russell Sage College on Friday.
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The Saxons (11-12, 5-9 Empire 8) trailed 18-17 after the first quarter but outscored the Gators (14-9, 9-5 Empire 8), 20-6, in the second. AU extended its lead with 13 points in the third quarter. Russell Sage College outscored the home team 20-9, to make the comeback in the fourth, but AU made three crucial plays to hang on for the win.
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Jaidyn Chest (Mayfield, NY/Mayfield) was the leading scorer with 24 points. She added four rebounds, three assists and three steals to her stat line. Natalee Collins (Waterville, NY/Waterville) grabbed 16 rebounds while contributing six points, two assists, a steal and a block.
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The Saxons were down, 16-8, with 3:03 left in the first quarter. Briana Dorr (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa) drained a 3-point shot. Chest and Ashaya Wallace (Elmira, NY/Elmira) combined for a perfect 4-of-4 at the free throw line. Chest then scored at the 39-second mark, bringing AU within one at 18-17, after the first quarter.
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Ava Anastasi (Sanborn, NY/Starpoint) registered two free throws that gave the Saxons their first lead of the game at the beginning of the second quarter, 19-18. Both teams went back-and-forth for the next three baskets before AU tallied 10 unanswered points to go up by nine, 31-22. Chest drained back-to-back 3-point shots to send the Saxons into halftime with a 37-24 advantage.
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AU remained up by double digits in the third quarter but later went cold from the field for most of the fourth. The Saxons' shooting struggles resulted in the Gators outscoring them, 20-4, to tie the game at 54-all with nine seconds left in the game. After AU took a timeout, Chest found Jayda L. Felker (Corning, NY/Corning-Painted Post) at the basket for the layup that broke the tie. Russell Sage College was assessed a technical after the basket, resulting in Chest making 1-of-2 at the free throw line. The junior knocked down two more free throws after a Gator personal foul to help lead the Saxons to victory.

"We had a bad start and we were letting them score at will," Head Coach Mike Moskowitz said. "We woke up the last three minutes of the first and went on a 9-2 run to end. That fed into a great second quarter where we got a ton of stops and got really quality looks. We missed some great looks in that fourth quarter and had some silly fouls off misses that hurt us. But proud of us for being resilient enough to win that game. I thought Briana [Dorr] was really big for us, especially in the first half converting great looks. Ashaya [Wallace] and Ava [Anastasi], while struggling to score, did a great job on both ends and made some big winning plays. Excited to celebrate Natalee [Collins] tomorrow with another big game on Senior Day."
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AU will next host Hartwick College for Senior Day and an E8 contest on Saturday at 2:00 PM.