WILLIAMSPORT, PA - The Alfred University women's basketball team dished a season-high 22 assists during their 82-60 win over Baruch College on Friday afternoon as part of the Hoops for Hounds Classic. 

The Saxons (6-3, 1-2 Empire 8) shot 49.2 percent from the field, while the Bearcats (6-6, 0-1 CUNYAC) lost the rebound battle by a 45-29 margin. 

Alfred University was led by Grace Rittenhouse (Dansville, NY/Dansville), who scored a career-high 23 points to go with five rebounds and two assists. Karly Welty (Portville, NY/Portville Central) stuffed the stat sheet with seven points, six rebounds, and a career-high nine assists. Gillian Flint (Caledonia, NY/Caledonia-Mumford) contributed with a season-high 18 points for AU. 

"The energy this weekend is the best it has ever been," Head Coach Mike Moskowitz said. "Top to bottom, we were loud, communicating at a high level and playing for each other. The ball movement was tremendous, and we absolutely dominated the defensive boards. Leah and Ana were great defensively against a very talented player in #23 and our help on defense from players like Becky made it more difficult for her in the second half. Gillian had some great timely cuts leading to some great finishes and Grace killed it from three-point range today and had some nice powerful takes. Allison did a great job exploiting some mismatches an executing the game plan throughout offensively and Karly Jean again was awesome as a facilitator with nine assists."

Rittenhouse got the Saxons off to a quick start with an early three-point shot. Ana Ion (Bucharest, Romania/Episcopal School of Jacksonville) scored a three-point shot of her own to spark an 11-1 run for AU to close out the first quarter, as the Saxons led 24-13 entering the second quarter. The Bearcats found early shots in the second quarter, but a three-point shot from Harkenrider was followed by a layup from Rebecca Jewett (Nyack, NY/Nyack) to have Alfred University leading by as many as 12 points. A 7-0 run by Barcuh cut their deficit down to five points, but Flint scored from beyond the arc in the final minute of the first half to give the a 42-37 lead going into halftime. 

Alfred University placed additional pressure on Baruch to begin the second half, opening with a 12-2 run to extend their lead to 15 points. Harkenrider and Rittenhouse combined for 13 points in the quarter, as the Saxons went into the fourth quarter with a 64-47 advantage. Flint led AU in the early stages of the fourth quarter, scoring seven points across the first three minutes of action. Five different Saxons scored in the final quarter before the final horn went off and the victory was secured. 

"We're excited to carry this positive momentum forward as we resume conference play after the New Year," Moskowitz said.

Alfred University will next return to Empire 8 action when they travel to face Houghton University on Tuesday with tip-off slated for 5:30 PM.