HOBOKEN, N.J. (February 19, 2011) – Junior guard Dawn Garcia (Brooklyn, N.Y.) poured in a game-high 15 points as the Stevens Institute of Technology women's basketball team upended visiting Ithaca College, 51-46, at Canavan Arena in Hoboken, N.J., snapping the visitors' 15-game win-streak, while handing the Bombers their first loss in conference play. With the Senior Day win, the Ducks, now 19-6 on the year with a 12-4 league ledger, clinched the No. 2 seed in the upcoming Empire 8 Tournament and will host third-seeded St. John Fisher College on Friday, February 25. League-leading Ithaca finishes its regular season with a 19-6 record and a 15-1 mark against conference opponents.
Stevens opened the game on a 5-0 run thanks to a Brianne Lavin (Farmingdale, N.J.) jumper and a Garcia three before Ithaca freshman guard Jennifer Escobido (Lisbon, Conn.) put the Bombers on the board with a layup at 14:36.
Ithaca senior forward Elissa Klie (Wykoff, N.J.) pulled the Bombers within two on her first basket of the afternoon before an Isaura Guzman (Union City, N.J.) trey coupled with a Garcia jumper upped the Ducks' lead to six at 10-4. Klie would pull the Bombers back within four, with a layup on the other end, but a Jillian Barrett (Philadelphia, Pa.) three-pointer from the right corner off a Garcia inbounds pass staked Stevens to a seven-point margin.
The Bombers responded by mounting a 12-2 run over the next six minutes of action, to take an 18-15 advantage on a Devin Shea (Huntingdon Valley, Pa.) jumper at the 5:44 mark. Down four after Ithaca's Kathryn Campbell (Spring Lake, N.J.) went 1-for-2 from the charity stripe, the Ducks closed out the half on a 6-0 run, taking a 21-19 advantage into the intermission on a pair of Guzman and Lavin treys from the right wing.
The Ducks held Ithaca scoreless for nearly five minutes to start the second, upping their lead to five on a Victoria Webber (Silver Spring, Md.) free-throw before senior Jordan Confessore (Kendall Park, N.J.) ended the Bombers' dry spell with a three at the 15:14 mark.
Up by two following another timely Ithaca triple, this time from senior forward Jane Debiasse (Chatham, N.J.), Stevens reeled off an 8-2 run, using five Garcia points during that span to go up 39-31 with just under eight minutes to go. Ithaca responded by rattling off eight unanswered of its own, knotting the game at 39 on an Elisabeth Wentlent (Greene, N.Y.) jumper with 6:04 remaining.
Hoping to rebuild their lead, Stevens tallied the game's next four points on a pair of Molly Spadaro (Sewell, N.J.) free-throws and a Victoria O'Connor (Westwood, N.J.), jumper, but Shea knifed into the lane for two to trim the Ithaca deficit to two with three and a half minutes left.
Down four after another Garcia jumper, DeBiasse buried a three pulling the Bombers within one, but a quick O'Connor layup stretched Stevens' lead back to three. Looking to keep pace, Shea drove into the lane for two more, once again making it a one-point contest.
Still up one with just 26 seconds remaining, Lavin stepped to the line with a chance to extend the Ducks' lead. The senior co-captain would fail to convert on either attempt, but a hustling Barrett corralled the loose ball following the second miss, drawing a foul in the process. Barrett then knocked down a pair from the charity stripe to put Stevens ahead 49-46.
With one last chance to tie, Ithaca got the ball into the hands of Debiasse, who'd drained four second half triples, but the senior forward could not connect from long distance, as Barrett pulled down the rebound to seal Stevens' 19th victory of the season.
Garcia had four rebounds and four assists to go along with her game-high 15 points, while Barrett added 10 points and seven boards. Guzman finished with eight points and three rebounds, while Armstrong and O'Connor combined to put up eight points and 12 boards. Lavin matched a season-high six points on 2-of-3 shooting, adding three rebounds and two assists.
DeBiasse tallied 12 points on four three-pointers, while Shea added eight points and three rebounds. Confessore added nine points on 4-for-5 shooting, while Escobido and Klie each tallied six points in the loss.
Stevens, which earned its first win over the Bombers since the 2008-09 Empire 8 championship game, held Ithaca to just 35.8 (19-for-53) shooting, including a 31.3 (5-for-16) clip from long distance, while holding a decisive 37-25 rebounding edge.