ONEONTA, NY – Maggie Kirby (Selkirk, NY/Bethlehem) eclipsed the 20-point mark for the fourth time in seven games on Friday night, pouring in 22 points as the Hartwick women's basketball team defeated Alfred, 71-59. The win takes the Hawks back above .500 overall, at 8-7, and to 2-2 in the Empire 8. The Saxons' tough ride continues this season, as they fall to 4-10 overall and 0-3 in the E8.
Alfred hung with 'Wick early, leading 9-6 after back-to-back threes from Gillian Flint and Ana Ion midway through the first quarter. With the score 12-10, however, Hartwick began to take control via an 11-0 run through the end of the period. Taylor Verboven (Columbia, CT/E.O. Smith) had seven of those 11 points (three lay-ups and a free throw) and Victoria Sacramone (Queens, NY/St. Mary's) banged in a three-pointer as well. Hartwick rushed out to a 21-12 after one.
Molly Kirby (Selkirk, NY/Bethlehem) hit from deep and Mary Schoenherr (Unionville, CT/Farmington) made a lay-up for the second quarter's first two buckets, forcing an Alfred timeout down 14. The Saxons cut their deficit down to six with three minutes on the clock when Gillian Flint put in a lay-up, but a 7-1 Hartwick run throughout the rest of the half — punctuated by a banked in buzzer-beating bucket from deep by Schoenherr — gave Hartwick a 40-28 lead at the break.
The third quarter brought more of the same, with the Hawks outscoring Alfred 20-14 throughout the ten minutes. The margin was cut to nine on an Ion fast-break lay-up (assisted by Lyndsey McCoy) under two minutes in, but three straight buckets (one beyond the arc) from Molly Kirby and a punctuating lay-up by sister Maggie ballooned the lead back up to 18 at 50-32 and forced an Alfred timeout. 'Wick's lead increased to as much as 21 on a Sacramone triple with 3:56 to go, but the Hawks had to settle for a 60-42 lead headed into the fourth.
The 18-point advantage more-or-less held steady for awhile in the final stanza, but with a bit over five minutes left Alfred began to make their desperation move. Bri Hicks scored the game's next eight points to make the score 64-54 with 2:48 on the clock. Unfortunately for her and the rest of the Saxons, they could not continue to put the ball in the basket and essentially ran out of time. They fouled Hartwick multiple times down the stretch, and the Hawks missed just one out of eight free throws in the final ninety seconds to keep the game firmly out of reach.
Most of Maggie Kirby's game-high 22 came from the charity stripe, as she had a career-high 12 free throws made (four off of the program's single-game record) on 15 attempts. Kirby also gathered five rebounds, two assists, a block, and a steal. The other three Hawks with double-digit scoring all had 13 points apiece. Molly Kirby registered an efficient 13, with 5-of-7 from the field and 3-of-4 from three, picking up two steals as well. Schoenherr's 13 went along with five boards and two blocks, and Verboven's career-high 13 came off the bench and on 4-of-6 from the field and 5-of-7 from the free throw line, grouping with five rebounds and three assists for a good night on the stat sheet. Giuliana Pritchard (Amsterdam, NY/Amsterdam) kept up her rebounding prowess, securing 14 rebounds (the fifth time in nine games she had 14 or more boards).
Hicks led her squad in scoring off the bench with 15 points, grabbing a game-high four steals, three rebounds, and an assist to boot. Flint was not far behind her at 14 points and a team-high seven boards, and Ion was the only other Saxon in double digits with 10 points to go with her four rebounds and three steals. O'Toole had seven points, three boards, and a steal off the bench, and Samantha Pierre-Louis joined her fellow substitute with six points, four rebounds, and a block.
Hartwick comfortably outshot Alfred in all facets of the game. They were at 41.7% from the field compared to 33.3%, and were at 40.0% from deep against 27.6% (although Alfred had 29 attempts to 'Wick's 15). The biggest difference came at the free throw line, where Hartwick went 32 times and secured 25 points (78.1%), while the Saxons shot just 36.8% on 19 attempts (seven made).
The Hawks had a sizeable advantage on the boards, with a 47-33 lead, although Alfred led 14-11 in offensive rebounds and converted that to a 14-8 difference in second chance points. Hartwick also turned it over 22 times to the Saxons' 15, and the visitors led 22-14 in points off of turnovers.
The Hawks are right back at it tomorrow evening, when they take on Houghton at 5 p.m. in Lambros Arena.
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