ONEONTA, NY – Hartwick trailed by as many as 15 points in the first half to a determined Elmira squad but the Hawks responded in the second half, outscoring the Soaring Eagles 45-26 to earn the 64-55 victory. With the win, the Hawks finish tied for first place in the Empire 8 with Ithaca at 13-1. The total sets the all-time Hartwick record for conference wins in a season. In addition, Hartwick finishes the regular season 21-4 which is only the eighth time in program history a team has achieved 21 victories.
            The Hawks will be the #2 seed in next weekend's Empire 8 Tournament. The Bombers win the tie-breaker and will host the tournament which is set to begin on Friday.
            The game was the final regular season contest for Hartwick seniors Lee Arduini (Albany, NY/Academy of the Holy Names), Maria Foglia (Rensselaer, NY/Catholic Central), Tracey Koch (Glenmont, NY/Bethlehem), Kate Purcell (Buffalo, NY/Mt. Mercy Acad.), and Kait Veit (Easthampton, MA/Holyoke Catholic). They combined for 39 points, 10 boards, six assists, and four steals on the night.
            Foglia led the way for Hartwick with team-highs of 17 points, six rebounds, and four assists. Purcell added 14 points and a game-high four steals. Sophomore Brittney Dumas (Easton, CT/Joel Barlow) was also in double figures with 12 points. She also contributed five boards.
            The Soaring Eagles, who entered the game needing a win over the Hawks to claim the fourth and final berth in the conference playoffs, played an impressive first half and led for but all but 2:27 of the opening 20 minutes. EC jumped in front on a three-pointer from the night's leading scorer Maria Thannhauser at 17:33 and held it through halftime.
            The Hawks couldn't buy a basket in the opening ten minutes as they made just two out of their first 12 shots of the game. A Kelsey Geiseler triple at 9:19 pushed the Elmira advantage to 12 points, 17-5, with 9:19 remaining. Later, a Karli Pochkar layup gave the Soaring Eagles their biggest lead of the night, 24-9, with under seven left.
            Hartwick finally trimmed the margin to single digits on a Dumas layup with 21 ticks left in the half but a free throw from Pochkar made it 29-19 EC at the break.
            The Hawks shot just 25% (5-for-20) from the floor while EC made 44.4% (12-for-27). The Soaring Eagles were all over the glass, out-rebounding the Hawks 21-12.
            'Wick was fired up coming out of the halftime locker room, immediately responding with an 8-2 run in the first 2:11 to make it a four-point game. Dumas and Arduini each had triples in the run.
              Elmira stayed in the lead, twice building five-point advantages, but it could not get any further ahead. A three-pointer from Foglia, two free throws from Taylor Vonasek (Willington, CT/E.O. Smith), and a Dumas layup would give Hartwick its first lead since the opening minutes of the game, 38-36, with 12:20 left in the contest. Thannhauser regained the lead briefly for Elmira with a three-pointer but a layup from Purcell would put 'Wick in front for keeps, 40-39.
            The Hawks maintained their lead for the next four minutes and held a 47-43 edge with 8:02 to play, but they would take control with a 7-0 run over the next two and a half minutes to go up by 10 points. Purcell would key the run with six straight points.
            'Wick led comfortably 56-45 but six quick points by the Soaring Eagles narrowed the gap to just five, 56-51, with 2:50 showing on the clock. Following a Hawks' timeout, Vonasek converted an and-one following a feed from Foglia to put 'Wick up eight. Foglia scored four of the next five points to make it a double digit lead, 63-52, with under a minute and the Hawks closed out the victory.
            Vonasek would end the contest with eight points and six rebounds for Hartwick. Arduini scored six.
             Thannhauser scored a game-high 20 points and hit a trio of three-point baskets for EC. Jessica Zoltowski contributed 14 points for the Soaring Eagles.
            The Hartwick seniors close out their third straight 20-win season this weekend, something only accomplished one other time in program history. Together, they have scored a total of 3,888 points, grabbed 1,715 rebounds, and dished out 874 assists.
            The Hawks will play third-seeded Stevens on Friday night at 8 p.m. in Ithaca. The top seeded Bombers host St. John Fisher in the tournament opener at 6 p.m.  The championship is scheduled for Saturday, March 1 at 4 p.m. The winner also receives an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.