ONEONTA, NY – Hartwick held an opponent to 40 points or less for the third time in the last five games in a 68-35 rout of Nazareth on Friday night at Lambros Arena. In the contest, the Hawks' limited the Golden Flyers to just 18.5% shooting, which was a season-best.
Twelve Hawks made it into the scoring column as their bench outscored Nazareth's by a margin of 42-19. 'Wick also dominated down low outscoring the Golden Flyers 36-12 in the paint and out-rebounding them 53-42.
Hartwick spread the wealth on offense as only two players reached double figures. Brittney Dumas (Easton, CT/Joel Barlow) registered game-highs of 14 points and 15 rebounds. Taylor Vonasek (Willington, CT/E.O. Smith) added 10 points.
Alicia Razanousky (Stuyvesant, NY/Ichabod Crane) contributed seven points and six boards for the Hawks. Kait Veit (Easthampton, MA/Holyoke Catholic) netted eight points and a pair of three-pointers.
The early going was anything but a one-sided affair as the Golden Flyers jumped out to a 5-0 lead as the Hawks missed their first seven shots in the first three minutes. 'Wick erased the deficit two and half minutes later and the two teams went back and forth through the 12-minute mark. The score was tied at 10-10, but a layup from Emily Stone (Granby, CT/Granby) put the hosts in front and it was all Hartwick from that point.
A 14-1 run from the Hawks handed them a 24-11 lead and the Hawks never looked back. The Hawks defense limited the Naz offense to just five points, two buckets, and 2-for-18 (11%) over the last 12 minutes of the half.
The Hawks would take a 34-16 lead into the break. Vonasek scored eight for the Hawks in the opening 20 minutes and Dumas added seven points and 13 boards.
A big 14-2 run for Hartwick to begin the second half put the Hawks up 30 points, 48-18, virtually putting the game away. The Hawks led comfortably by 26 points or better for the rest of the game to secure their 15th win of the season.
Jacqui Foreman (Tolland, CT/Tolland) and Tracey Koch (Glenmont, NY/Bethlehem) each contributed six points on the night for Hartwick. Foreman added five rebounds with Koch registering four. Stone and Lee Arduini (Albany, NY/Academy of the Holy Names) finished with five apiece.
Nazareth (7-11, 2-6 E8) did not have a player in double digits. Megan Morrison had seven points to lead the team.
The win for the Hawks' is the sixth in a row over Nazareth. They improve to 28-24 in the all-time series.
With the victory, Hartwick improves to 8-1 in the Empire 8 and pulls into a first-place tie with idle Ithaca atop the Empire 8 Conference standings.
Hartwick hosts St. John Fisher tomorrow evening at Lambros. Tip-off is 4 p.m.