ONEONTA, NY – The Hartwick Hawks secured a 22-point, 73-51 victory on Saturday evening at Lambros Arena. 'Wick limited the visiting Cardinals to just 11 made baskets and a shooting percentage of 20.8% (11-for-53) in the game. On the weekend, the Hawks held their opponents to just 19.6% shooting (21-for-107) in two contests.
The Hawks improve to 16-4 overall and 9-1 in the Empire 8 Conference. The Hawks also move ahead of Ithaca (8-1) into first place by one victory.
Maria Foglia (Rensselaer, NY/Catholic Central) had a double-double with a team-high 18 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. Kait Veit (Easthampton, MA/Holyoke Catholic) added 17 points, sank four three-pointers, and was perfect from the line at 5-of-5. Brittney Dumas (Easton, CT/Joel Barlow) missed a double-double by one rebound with 14 points and nine boards.
The Hawks controlled the first half as they opened up a lead of 17 points at one stage. They would limit the Cardinals to just three baskets and 12.5% (3-for-24) shooting in the opening 20 minutes.
After a pair of early free throws, Hartwick would outscore Fisher by a margin of 14-1 over the next 5:20 to grab a 14-3 advantage. Following back-to-back threes from Lee Arduini (Albany, NY/Academy of the Holy Names) and Veit to put the Hawks up 23-6 with 7:29 left in the half, a 12-2 Cardinal run trimmed the deficit to seven points, 25-18, three minutes later.
The Hawks would answer the run as a Foglia layup, a Kate Purcell (Buffalo, NY/Mt. Mercy Academy) three-pointer and two treys from Veit made it a 15-point game just before halftime. Foglia tacked on a free throw with 0.4 ticks left and the Hawks led 37-21 at the break.
The lead swelled to 20 on an Alicia Razanousky (Stuyvesant, NY/Ichabod Crane) jumper two minutes into the second half. Fisher would score eight of the next 10 points though, to get the lead down to less than fifteen points.
A three-pointer and a layup from Mary Kate Cusack for Fisher would close the gap to eleven, 48-37, with 10:30 remaining. Four free throws from Foglia and another three-point basket from Veit would build the advantage back up to 18.
With under seven minutes remaining, Fisher was able to whittle the Hartwick lead down to 12 points on two occasions but each time the Hawks were able to find points to keep the Cardinals at bay. A Three from Cusack made the score 59-47 with just over five minutes showing on the clock but it would be as close as the visitors would get. The Hawks would make 8-of-10 from the free-throw line down the stretch while Fisher went just 1-for-8 with four turnovers.
Razanousky ended the game with seven points for the Hawks to go along with three rebounds. Arduini finished with six points, four assists, and four boards, and Purcell contributed a game-high six assists, five points, and four rebounds. Taylor Vonasek (Willington, CT/E.O. Smith) chipped in with six points and three rebounds.
Cusack would score a game-high 23 points for St. John Fisher. She added four three-point field goals and five rebounds. Sydney Bloomstein scored 12 points. No other Cardinal had more than six. Fisher ended up shooting 23-of-27 from the line on the night.
Hartwick finished the game shooting 41.5% (22-for-53) as a group. The Hawks made 52.9% (9-of-17) from three-point range and dominated on the glass, 45-32. 'Wick made 20 free throws in the game which was its second-highest total of the season.
The victory is Hartwick's 12th over the Cardinals in 49 games in the all-time series. The Hawks have controlled the recent meetings however, with five wins in the last six contests.
Hartwick returns to action next Friday night as they meet Elmira College for the first time this season. The Hawks and Soaring Eagles play at Speidel Gymnasium in Elmira at 8 p.m.