ALBANY, NY - The Alfred University women's basketball team traveled to The Sage Colleges on Friday afternoon for an Empire 8 matchup.  The Saxons (5-9, 1-4 Empire 8) came up short in this one, falling to the Gators by a score of 73-87. 

After trading baskets early on, the Sage offense picked up in the middle portion of the first quarter while the Saxon offense became stagnant. With the score 8-7 in favor of Sage at the 5:09 mark, the Gators began a 13-0 run to extend their lead. At the end of the first quarter the Saxons found themselves in a 23-14 hole. 

The second quarter also went in favor of Sage with the Saxons being outscored 21-15. The Saxons went into the locker room down 44-29.

The Alfred offense that was a bit slow in the first half, picked up in a big way during the third quarter.  Three-pointers from Amanada Figueroa (Cypress, TX/Rosehill Christian), Katlyn Boland (New York, NY/A. Phillip Randolph) and Jamie Wilcox (Forestville, NY/Pine Valley)helped to get the Saxons back into the game. Unfortunately for Alfred, they were unable to slow the Sage offense that continued to put up points in the first stanza of the second half and the third quarter ended with Sage leading 68-55.

"Offensively, we finally got some good looks executing in the half court," Head Coach Mike Moskowitz said. "Defensively, we allowed five first half three's and allowed them to shoot 56% from the field on easy post entries and straight drives."  

Alfred was able to play the Gators even throughout the second half but could not overcome the early deficit and came up short in this one.

"I'd like to see us control our body language a little better when adversity hits," Moskowitz said. I'm curious to see what kind of focus and energy we have tomorrow."

Figueroa and Lyndsey McCoy (Middleburgh, NY/Middleburgh Central) each had 13 points to lead the Saxons. Boland scored eight with three assists and forced four steals on defense. Allison O'Toole (Simi Valley, CA/Simi Valley) had nine points, dished out three assists and had two steals.

AU will be in Hoboken, New Jersey tomorrow for a 12PM tip-off against Stevens Institute of Technology.