Elmira, NY -- The Elmira College women's basketball team stayed in the driver's seat for the fourth and final playoff spot as the Soaring Eagles defeated Nazareth College 58-53 on Class of 2014 recognition day. Maria Thannhauser '14 joined elite company today, becoming the fifth player in EC history to reach the 1,000-point plateau. Thannhauser scored 10 points on the afternoon, eight of which came in the second half as Elmira pulled away for the victory.

Thannhauser was one of three Soaring Eagles in double figures in the game, the other two being Jessica Zoltowski '14 with a game-high 18 points and Meghan Loya '16 with 12. Loya also had her second consecutive strong rebounding day as she pulled down eight rebounds, which tied a game-high with Nazareth's Melissa Reeves.

The five Class of 2014 members, Zoltowski, Thannhauser, Liz Forrest '14, Tempestt Black '14, and Breen Loney '14, were recognized pre-game and all played and made significant contributions in today's victory.  Forrest had seven points in her final home game, going a perfect 5-for-5 from the free throw line, Black and Loney did not score but Black came away with four rebounds and an assist while Loney provided tough defense down low in EC's 2-3 zone. Head Coach Shannon Howley had nothing but positive things to say about her five seniors.

"Today was an important day for both us as a team and these five women. I'm extremely happy that we got the win, and it's definitely nice that our seniors can leave their home floor with a win. They have been fixtures of our program for four years so they've earned this victory."

The Soaring Eagles trailed for most of the first half as Nazareth came out on fire from three-point range, knocking down four of their first eight attempts from downtown. The Golden Flyers stretched their lead to seven, 17-10, off a Hannah Runyon three-pointer, but that would be their largest lead of the game as Elmira slowly chipped away at the deficit.

EC still trailed 23-17 with 3:11 left in the first half, but the Purple and Gold would proceed to go on an 8-0 run to make it a 25-23 game with under a minute remaining. After Nazareth tied the game at 25 with a pair of free throws, it looked as though Karli Pochkar '16 had given Elmira a two-point advantage with a couple ticks left on the clock, but it was negated with an over-the-back foul call on the sophomore. As a result, the two teams went into the locker room tied 25-25.

Riding the momentum from the close of the first half, the Soaring Eagles came out strong from the intermission to take control of the game. Alex Balara'14 scored four quick points to start the half which jumpstarted a 10-2 run which gave EC an eight-point advantage just three minutes into the half.

The Elmira lead hovered around four points for the next few minutes until Thannhauser stepped into her only successful three-pointer of the game with 13:11 remaining, giving EC a 40-33 advantage. Her three from the corner gave her five points in the game, but more importantly, it gave her 1,000 career points. 

"Maria's certainly earned it" praised Coach Howley. "She's been a four-year starter for us and has worked really hard to get here. I'm happy for what she has accomplished."

Thannhauser did not stop there as she continued to produce offensively, coming up clutch down the stretch. Nazareth cut a 10-point Elmira lead to just two with 40 seconds left but a layup by the senior with 15 seconds left all but put the game away for the Soaring Eagles. Balara added a free throw with seven seconds left to bring it to the 58-53 final.

With the victory, the Purple and Gold move to 7-5 in Empire 8 play and remain percentage points ahead of St. John Fisher College for the fourth and final playoff spot. The Cardinals have finished conference play with an 8-6 record while EC has two Empire 8 games remaining against Hartwick College and Stevens Tech.

"We know what we have to do next week to get in" said Coach Howley. "We said in the locker room that our playoffs started today and we were successful in round one. We have two more to go next week against some tough competition."

The Soaring Eagles hit the road for the final weekend of the regular season for games against Stevens Tech and Hartwick College. EC will play at Stevens on Friday, February 21st at 8:00 p.m. before closing the regular season with a game at Hartwick the following day at 4:00 p.m.