The St. John Fisher College women's basketball program qualified for the Empire 8 Conference Championship on Friday night, as the Cardinals collected a 58-42 win over visiting Houghton College.

With the win, Fisher improves to 16-5 overall and 9-3 in the Empire 8 Conference.  The victory guarantees Fisher one of the top four spots in the Empire 8 standings and will secure the Cardinals a postseason bid.  It is the 37^th time in the program's 41-year history Fisher has made the postseason.

The winner of the four-team tournament (held on February 27-28) will earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Championship.  The Cardinals are currently tied for third place in the Empire 8 standings and trail Ithaca College and Stevens Institute of Technology, who are both 12-1 on the year in league play.

Fisher opened the game with a 12-0 run over the game's opening six minutes to take control.   Fisher pushed its lead to 18 points at 26-8 on a 3-pointer from Portia Velasco with just under eight minutes left in the first half, but the Highlander went on a 9-4 run to close out the period to pull within 13 at 30-17 at the break.

Houghton hung around for most of the second half, cutting Fisher's lead down to nine points on two different occasions.  Fisher led 45-36 with just over four minutes left, but the Cardinals pulled away after knocking down 3-pointers on its next three possessions from three different players (McKenzie Bezon, Mary Kate Cusack and Emily Piacentini) to start a 13-2 run.

Cusack led the Cardinals with 17 points.  Velasco finished with nine points and five rebounds, while freshman Lunden Cunningham added eight points and six boards.   Fellow freshman Nicole Robinson added six points and six rebounds, while Piacentini totaled five points and a team-high five assists.

Fisher will return to action at 2 p.m. on Saturday and will host Nazareth College.  Prior to the start of the game, the College will recognize its four graduating seniors.

Fisher is 7-1 in its last eight games with its lone loss coming to the Golden Flyers on January 30^th.