ALFRED, N.Y. – Senior Caroline Robertson scored a game-high 20 points as the St. John Fisher College women's basketball team posted its 10th consecutive win after shrugging off a slow start to defeat Alfred University, 78-50, on Tuesday night inside the Terry S. Galanis Family Center. Fisher, which has now posted a victory in 14 of its last 15 contests, improved to 17-5 overall and remained firmly in first place in the Empire 8 at 12-1. Alfred fell to 2-18 overall and remained winless against conference opponents at 0-11.
Neither team was able to create any separation over the first two quarters as Fisher found itself in unfamiliar territory after falling behind 24-23 heading into halftime.
The break in action seemed to jolt the Cardinals to life as the visitors began the third period on a 12-4 run with Sydney Masna, the reigning Empire 8 Rookie of the Week, scoring the team's first six points to make it 35-28 in Fisher's favor.
After a 3-pointer from Erin Hulbert, Alfred kept pace and matched Fisher with a triple of its own, but an 11-1 run fueled by back-to-back 3-pointers from Hulbert and Masna staked Fisher to a double-digit cushion, 46-32, with under two minutes to play in the third.
As the quarter continued, Robertson began to find her groove as the Glen Head native scored the period's final six points to give Fisher an 18-point edge heading into the fourth quarter.
The Cardinals continued to fire on all cylinders over the final 10 minutes of play with Katy McInerney burying two shots from downtown to make it a 24-point contest, 60-36. From there, Alfred pulled to within 21 points, but that was as close as it would come as the Cardinals' advantage ballooned to as many as 30 points before the final horn sounded.
Robertson led all scorers with 20 points after knocking down 9-of-15 shots from the field. The forward also pulled down nine boards and had three assists in 32 minutes. Masna finished with 12 points in all while Hulbert added eight points, four assists and a game-high four steals. Alex Reigle chipped in three points, five rebounds and four dimes while McInerney contributed eight points in the win.
As a team, Fisher tallied a season-high 22 assists on 28 field goals. The Cardinals knocked down seven 3-pointers overall and converted 15-of-23 attempts from the free throw stripe. Defensively, the team came away with 16 steals and held Alfred to 17 made field goals in 40 minutes of play.
The Cardinals will play again at 2 p.m. on Saturday when they travel down East Avenue to face host Nazareth College in the second rendition of this season's Battle of the Beaks.