Box Score
The St. John Fisher College women's basketball team defeated East Avenue rival Nazareth College 66-57 on Friday night at Manning and Napier Varsity Gymnasium, fueled by a career-high 31 points from Mary Kate Cusack. She also added a career-high eight steals.
With the win Fisher improves to 15-9 overall and 7-6 in the Empire 8 while Nazareth falls to 8-14, 2-9.
Fisher led 26-23 at the break but Nazareth evened up the score at 37 apiece at the 11:35 mark. However, Cusack rattled home a 3-pointer, which helped fuel a 14-0 run for Fisher, to give the Cardinals a 51-37 lead with just under seven minutes remaining.
The Golden Flyers would not go away though, as they responded with back-to-back 3-pointers to cut the deficit to 51-43. Nazareth would come no closer than seven points the rest of the way and the Cardinals held on for the victory.
Fisher struggled early in the game falling behind 18-8 midway through the first half. Claire Walsh made a layup to make it 11-8 before Nazareth went on a 7-0 run.
However Fisher ramped up its defensive pressure, behind Cusack's four first half steals, to claw back into the game. Camaryn Buckner converted a traditional 3-point play to give Fisher a 23-21 advantage with 4:09 left in the half. Nazareth went nearly eight minutes without a field goal and Fisher held the slight edge at the break.
Buckner finished her last home game with 12 points and seven boards. Sydney Bloomstein chipped in 13 points and a game-high eight rebounds.
Fisher will close out the regular season tomorrow at 4 p.m. traveling to Alfred University. The Cardinals defeated Alfred earlier in the season 88-65.