ONEONTA, NY – Hartwick lost a close one in its home opener on Saturday as Moravian outlasted the Hawks by a final score of 56-51 in the Holiday Inn Classic. The Hawks were tied with the Greyhounds, 43-43, with under five minutes left to play, but two Alexis Wright free throws with 4:28 left would put Moravian in front for good.
            Courtney Cirillo (Johnstown, NY/Johnstown) poured in a game- and career-high 18 points to pace 'Wick. Emily Stone (Granby, CT/Granby) added 11 points and five assists for the Hawks.
             The game featured seven tie scores and six lead changes. The Greyhounds led by as many as 11 points in the opening half before the Hawks battled back to trim the deficit to four at the half.
             The Greyhounds took a 19-8 advantage on a jumper from Morgan Calabrese with 5:30 left in the first half. Back to back buckets from Stone and Taylor Vonasek (Willington, CT/E.O. Smith) cut it to seven. Later, another Stone basket closed the gap to four, 19-15, with 2:40 left. A Cirillo layup finished off the first half scoring and the Hawks were down 23-19 at the break.
            Hartwick kept it close through the first nine minutes of the second half. The Hawks earned their first lead of the night after a Jacqui Foreman (Tolland, CT/Tolland) basket and Stone three-pointer with 10:40 left.
            The lead changed four times in the next three minutes of action. A Cirillo three-point play gave the Hawks their final lead, 41-39, with 7:11 left. Four straight Greyhound points regained the visitors' advantage before a Foreman layup tied it at 43-43 with 4:28 showing on the clock.
            After Wright put Moravian in the lead from the line, the Hawks managed to cut it to one three separate times but they couldn't move ahead. A Jess Bellai (Schenectady, NY/Schalmont) jumper made the score 50-49 with 2:22 remaining but the Hawks would miss their next five shots in the final minute and a half. The Greyhounds would put the game away from the line with four free throws with under 60 seconds to play.
            The Hawks out-rebounded the Greyhounds 39-37 in the game. 'Wick shot 35.9% (23-for-64) while Moravian hit 21 of its 51 shots (41.2%).
            Christina Graziadei (Oriskany, NY/Oriskany Central) scored eight points for Hartwick and tied for a game-high with 10 rebounds. She also had three blocked shots and three assists. Bellai added six points, seven rebounds, and four assists.
            Foreman contributed four points, seven rebounds, and three steals for the Hawks. Vonasek had four points and four boards in her first game this season.
            Hartwick plays RPI tomorrow at Lambros at 2 p.m.