ALFRED, NY – The Alfred University women's basketball team fell to a tough Hartwick team on Saturday afternoon. The Saxons (5-7, 1-3 Empire 8) dropped their third conference game of the season by a score of 70-47.
AU found themselves in an early hole after a 9-2 start in favor of the Hawks. AU would climb its way back in and make it 17-12 just before the end of the first quarter.
Hartwick began the second quarter with a three to go up by 10. The Saxons then buckled down and went on a 6-0 run thanks to a couple of fast break layups from Chanice Battle (Brooklyn, NY/Midwood) to make it a 22-18 lead at the 6:58 point in the second quarter.
Hartwick then began its hot shooting from beyond the arc and outscored the Saxons 19-6 for the remainder of the first half to head into the break leading 41-24.
"We played pretty well the first 13 minutes and cut it to four a few times, but after their time out at the 6:57 mark, we allowed a quick 10-0 run that really hurt us," Head Coach Mike Moskowitz said. "We kind of got down on ourselves and never really responded."
The Saxons fought to keep in the game throughout the third quarter but could not keep pace with the Hartwick shooters and ultimately dropped this one to the Hawks.
"After a very solid effort last night, today was underwhelming," Moskowitz said. "The next step we have to take as a program is learning how to put together back to back days of solid focus and effort. We'll see how we respond against Nazareth on Tuesday."
Jamie Wilcox (Forestville, NY/Pine Valley) led the Saxons with 12 points. Katlyn Boland (New York, NY/A. Phillip Randolph) grabbed six rebounds while Allison O'Toole (Simi Valley, Ca/Simi Valley) had three steals.
The Saxons will travel to Nazareth College on Tuesday to face off against another tough opponent in the Golden Flyers with that game set to tip off at 5:30PM.