ROCHESTER, N.Y. (January 10, 2014) – The Stevens Institute of Technology women's basketball team improved to 8-3 on the season and 2-1 in the Empire 8 Conference with a 71-53 road victory at Nazareth College on Friday night in Kidera Gymnasium.

Stevens used an early second half scoring spree to pull away from Nazareth (5-7, 1-2) after a 37-37 tie at halftime to come away with the win. The Ducks outscored Nazareth, 34-16, in the second half and held the Golden Flyers to just 22.2-percent shooting in the final 20 minutes.

Neither team recorded a basket in the first two possessions of the game until Nazareth finally cracked the scoreboard 46 seconds in. Stevens then came right back with its first points of the contest on a layup from senior Avis Benjamin (Queens, N.Y.). The conference foes traded buckets on the next three trips down the floor until the Golden Flyers sank a pair of free throws at the 17:36 mark to take a 9-4 lead.

Benjamin paced Stevens with 19 points on 7-for-15 shooting from the floor and went a perfect 5-for-5 from the free throw line with eight rebounds and two blocks.

After the Ducks fell behind, 9-4, they answered with nine consecutive points to jump ahead, 13-9. Freshman Brittany Washington (Iselin, N.J.) got things rolling with a layup at 16:43 and then classmate Erica Guketlov (Spotswood, N.J.) sunk a jumper 33 seconds later. Stevens then took its first lead at 10-9 at 15:39 on the first points from sophomore Miranda Ripken (Fallston, Md.). Washington capped off the run with a layup-and-one 1:10 later.

Washington tallied 11 points off the bench, while Ripken nearly posted a double-double with nine points and nine boards. Guketlov dished out six assists to go along with five points.

Nazareth knotted the half up at 15-15 with 12:45 left on the clock on a three from Veronica Peck and regained the lead on another long ball from Anna Wicks 24 seconds later. Lindsey Kelly pushed the Golden Flyers' lead to five, 20-15, after a 1:09 scoreless streak by both teams.

The Golden Flyers kept the lead up to the 8:29 mark when sophomore Kaitlyn Astel (Staten Island, N.Y.) made a layup to tie the showdown again at 24-24. Over the final 8:29, the teams were tied four times and traded leads on six different occasions. The final basket of the half was scored by Nazareth's Kelly with 3.8 left on the clock and a made free throw on the continuation resulted in the halftime deadlock.

Astel contributed 10 points on 5-for-14 shooting and seven rebounds for Stevens.

After intermission, the score stayed within three points up to 13:35 left when Guketlov hit a three-pointer to give Stevens a 48-44 edge. From there, the Ducks went on a 12-0 run over the next 3:06 to build a 60-44 lead. Nazareth stopped the run with a three-pointer with just under nine minutes to go but Stevens would close out the game, outscoring the Golden Flyers, 11-6, which accounted for the rest of the points scored in the contest.

Freshman Hannah Brophy (Bridgewater, N.J.) chipped in eight points and seven rebounds in a starting role with a pair of assists. Sophomore Dylan Krause (Atlanta, Ga.) added five points and six boards.

Stevens shot 46.9-percent in the game (30-for-64) and 9-for-10 from the free throw line. Nazareth went 20-for-64 from the field (31.3%) but made 10 three-pointers to make up the difference. The Ducks dominated the glass, 52-29.

Up next for Stevens is St. John Fisher College tomorrow at 4 p.m. for another conference tussle in Rochester.

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