The St. John Fisher College women's basketball team won its fourth-straight game as it defeated host Houghton College 83-60 on Saturday in an Empire 8 Conference contest.

The Cardinals, who are currently receiving votes in the D3hoops.com national poll, improve to 9-2 overall and 2-0 in Empire 8 games after the victory while the Highlanders drop to 6-6 overall and 0-3 in Empire 8 action following the loss.

15 seconds into the contest, McKenzie Bezon kicked-off the scoring by drilling a 3-pointer off of a pass from Emily Piacentini. That bucket sparked an early 6-0 advantage for the Cardinals that would hold until Houghton tied the game at 6-6 just over three minutes in.

Fisher finished the last 6:54 of the quarter strong as it outscored the Highlanders 12-7 down the stretch to take an 18-13 lead into the second quarter.

In the second quarter, Mary Kate Cusack began to take over for the Cardinals and after hitting a 3-pointer just five seconds in, went on to tally seven points in the quarter. Fisher used a quarter-long 19-11 advantage to take a 37-24 lead over Houghton into halftime.

The Cardinals really found their rhythm in the third quarter as they exploded for 33 points in the quarter after eight different players tallied points in the quarter for Fisher. Erin Hulbert scored seven of her career-high 15 game points in the third quarter and paced the Cardinals to a 70-40 lead heading into the final quarter of play.

The final quarter of play saw the Highlanders make an early push but they never cut the Fisher lead to smaller than 21 points as the Cardinals ultimately coasted to the 23-point victory.

Cusack finished with a game-high 23 points on 8-of-15 shooting from the floor while Piacentini recorded 12 points to go along with a game-high five assists.

Bezon filled up the stat sheet for the Cardinals against Houghton, tallying five points, eight rebounds, and four assists.

Jessica Rhone and Maria Kelleher added nine and seven points respectively.

Fisher returns to the fold at 8 p.m. on Tuesday as it hosts Alfred University for an Empire 8 matchup.