HOUGHTON, N.Y. (February 15, 2014) – The Stevens Institute of Technology women's basketball team picked up its fifth consecutive victory with a 60-51 triumph at Houghton College on Saturday. Stevens improves to 16-7 with the win, while Houghton drops to 7-16 overall.

Stevens trailed by four points at halftime, 28-24, but used a strong second half and outscored the Highlanders, 36-23, to come away with the nine-point win on the road.

Neither team shot particularly well from the floor as the Ducks went 18-for 55 (32.7-percent) and Houghton shot 18-for-52 (34.6%). Stevens benefitted at the free throw line with a plus-11 disparity which accounted for the difference in the contest. The Ducks went 22-for-28 at the line, while Houghton made 11 of its 18 attempts.

The counterparts flip-flopped halves in shooting percentage as Stevens shot 25% (8-for-32) in the first half and 43.5% (10-for-23) in the second. Houghton shot at a 43.5% (10-for-23) clip in the opening 20 minutes, compared to 27.6% (8-for-29) in the second half.

Stevens opened the contest on a 4-0 run on a pair of made free throws from senior Avis Benjamin (Queens, N.Y.) and a jumper from sophomore Kaitlyn Astel (Staten Island, N.Y.) in the first 1:22. After the Ducks went up, 10-5, with 15:19 left on the clock, Houghton put together a 9-0 run over the next 4:38 to take a 14-10 lead. The Highlanders led the remainder of the way in the half.

Astel knotted the game up at 28-28 with 18:15 remaining in regulation and made the and-one to put Stevens ahead, 29-28. Houghton would outscore the Ducks, 17-8, over the next nine minutes to build its largest lead of the contest at 45-37. Stevens went back ahead thanks to a 12-3 run in a five-minute span, 49-48, until Kristen Moose put in a free throw with 4:08 left on the clock deadlocked the scoreboard.

The Ducks put together another short run of 7-0 for a 56-49 lead with 2:22 to go on a jumper from sophomore Miranda Ripken (Fallston, Md.). Houghton scored on its next possession to trim its deficit to 56-51, but was held scoreless over the final 2:05.

Astel paced Stevens with 18 points on 6-of-14 shooting and 6-for-7 from the free throw line with eight rebounds, three assists and two steals. Benjamin registered nine points on 7-for-9 from the stripe, while Ripken poured in 13 points (4-for-8 shooting, 5-for-6 at the line) with four boards.

Senior Molly Spadaro (Sewell, N.J.) added nine points for the Ducks, while sophomore Dylan Krause (Atlanta, Ga.) tallied seven points and five rebounds off the bench.

Moose led Houghton with 19 points, while Maisie Pipher recorded 10 points. Hannah Fink just missed a double-double with 11 rebounds and eight points.

Stevens heads to Hartwick College on February 18 for its final Empire 8 Conference game of the season and a pivotal contest for playoff seeding. The Ducks remain in third in the conference standings and would secure a spot in the Empire 8 tournament with a win.

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