ONEONTA, NY – Hartwick's women's basketball team steamrolled its way to its first Empire 8 Conference playoff berth in seven years with a 71-41 rout of Alfred University on Friday night at Lambros Arena. The Hawks led 38-26 at halftime, but used a 25-2 run to start the second half en route to the victory.
            Hartwick improves to 17-3 overall and 9-1 in the Empire 8. The win coupled with an Ithaca victory over Nazareth tonight sewed up a spot in the semifinals. The Hawks' only two previous appearances occurred in the 2003-04 and 2004-05 seasons.
            Eleven different Hawks made it into the scoring column tonight, led by sophomore Maria Foglia's (Rensselaer, NY/Catholic Central) game-high 17 points. Freshman Carlee Hirt (Beacon, NY/John Jay-East Fishkill) added nine points and sophomore Lee Arduini (Albany, NY/Acad. Of the Holy Names) contributed eight.
            Hartwick jumped on the Saxons quickly as they opened up a 10-0 lead after just four minutes. The Hawks hit 4-of-6 shots with Arduini netting five in the run.
            An Alfred three-pointer from Christina Jordan cut the lead to six, 17-11, with just under eight minutes left in the half. A 9-2 Hartwick surge, however, brought it back to a 13-point edge, 26-13, less than two minutes later. Freshman Rachel Hunt (Penfield, NY/Webster-Schroeder) scored five of her career-high seven points in the span for 'Wick.
            A free throw from Alfred's Grace Williamson and a three-pointer from Jordan would trim the Alfred deficit to single-digits, 26-17, with 5:32 left in the half, but it was as close as the Saxons would get for the rest of the night. Kate Veit (Easthampton, MA/Holyoke Catholic) sank a pair from the line and the Hawks tallied 12 of the final 21 points of the half for a 12-point lead.
             Hartwick's defense limited the Saxons to next to nothing in the first 12 minutes of the second half. The Saxons managed their first point of the half after nearly eight and a half minutes and did not get their first field goal until 7:50 remained in the game on a Williamson layup. Alfred missed its first 13 shots to go along with eight turnovers in the opening 12 minutes of the period.
            The Hawks, on the other hand, received points from seven different players in the big 25-2 run. The team hit 8-of-14 shots in the span, including all seven free-throw attempts. Davison's pair from the line gave 'Wick its biggest lead of the night, 63-28. Hartwick cruised the rest of the way, never leading by less than 28 points.
            Foglia would make five of her nine shots from the floor and was a perfect 6-for-6 from the line in the game. She also contributed six rebounds. Arduini would add a team-high seven rebounds to her eight points. She also earned three assists and two steals. Freshman Kelsey Fenn (Lexington, MA/Lexington HS) added a career-best six points on 3-of-5 shooting.
            Williamson was Alfred's top performer with a team-high 16 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Jordan was the Saxons' next-highest scorer with six points.
            The Hawks finished the game hitting 46.3% from the field and 44% from three-point range. They also outscored the Saxons in the paint, 34-16, and won the battle of the benches, 37-11.
            The Hawks, who are tied atop the conference standings with Ithaca (17-4, 9-1 E8), still have four Empire 8 games remaining on their schedule. Hartwick hosts Elmira (8-13, 4-6 E8) tomorrow at Lambros Arena at 2 p.m. The Soaring Eagles earned a 51-48 upset win of Stevens tonight to pull within a game of fourth place in the standings.