The St. John Fisher College women's basketball team defeated SUNY Fredonia Blue Devils 97-79 at home on Friday night.

The cardinals were able to improve to 6-2 on the season after shooting 52% (36-68) from the floor, and nearly 40% (11-28) from three point range.

Fisher came out strong gaining an early eight-point lead in the first five minutes, accompanied by a 3-pointer by McKenzie Bezon with just two minutes gone.

The Blue Devils tied the game at 12-12 with two minutes remaining in the first, but a jumper from Nicole Robinson sparked an 11-2 run to close the quarter and would remain ahead for the remainder of the game.

In the second quarter, Fredonia would draw within four points with 6:53 remaining, but this was as close as the Blue Devils would come as Emily Piacentini scored on a layup on a pass from Mary Kate Cusack to begin a 16-4 run for Fisher.The Cardinals would go on to close the half on a 3-pointer from Claire Walsh securing a 44-31 lead at the intermission.

Fisher continued its offensive success early in the third quarter as it extended its lead to 17 points less than three minutes in after McKenzie Bezon found Jessica Rhone for a layup to put the Cardinals up 52-35. The rest of the third quarter saw Fisher and Fredonia trade runs before the Cardinals finished the quarter with a 6-2 run to take a 70-54 lead into the final period.

The fourth quarter would prove to be Fisher's highest scoring quarter of the game as the Cardinals put up 27 points in the stanza and extended its lead to 18 points on four different occasions. The last occurrence came with nine seconds left in the game as Abby Mardsen drilled a 3-pointer to secure the 97-79 victory for Fisher.

Cusack and Bezon both tallied a game-high 19 points, marking a career-high point total for Bezon. Cusack also managed to tie a career-high eight assists in the contest while Bezon added five helpers.

Bridget Carney and Piacentini were not far behind with 16 and 13 points, respectively. Carney shot 6-9 from the field and also tallied six rebounds while Piacentini shot 6-10 from the field.
The Cardinals return to action at 4 p.m. January 2^nd when they take on Medaille College on the road.