ALFRED, NY – A three-pointer off glass from McKaylee Croll with three seconds left in regulation lifted host Alfred University to a 48-45 victory over Hartwick's women's basketball team on Friday night at Terry S. Galanis Family Arena.
A jumper from Caitlin Corbett (Altamont, NY/Guilderland) tied the game for the Hawks with 26 ticks to play before the deciding bucket. Carly Johnson's (Greenville, NY/Greenville Central) three-pointer near the final horn to tie the game was off the mark allowing the Saxons the victory.
The loss drops the Hawks' season record to 8-11 overall and 6-5 in Empire 8 play. The Saxons improve to 2-18 and 1-10.
Taylor Vonasek (Willington, CT/E.O. Smith) led all scorers with 18 points. She also had eight rebounds. Johnson finished with 10 points. Christina Graziadei (Oriskany, NY/Oriskany) grabbed a team-high nine rebounds.
Neither team shot the ball particularly well with both shooting under 31%. However, the game was close throughout with eight lead changes and seven tie scores.
The Hawks fell behind by as many as eight points in the opening quarter. A Jacqui Foreman (Tolland, CT/Tolland) layup with under a minute left trimmed the margin to one before the Saxons took a 14-11 lead at the end of the first quarter.
The Hawks would trail for nearly the entire second period before a Johnson jumper with 43 seconds left would put them in front at halftime, 24-23.
The score was tied three times with neither team leading by more than three the entire third quarter. Another Johnson bucket with six seconds left put 'Wick up two heading into the fourth period, 35-33.
A Johnson three-pointer gave the Hawks a five-point edge, 38-33, less than a minute into the fourth. A three from Croll evened the game at 43-43 with 2:46 to play. After two Amanda Off free throws put AU in front with 1:58 showing on the clock, both teams had two possessions to put points on the board with neither converting.
Corbett's jumper from 18 feet evened the score before Croll's heave with three seconds remaining proved to be the difference.
Foreman would end the game for the Hawks with eight points and seven rebounds. Corbett scored seven points and grabbed five boards.
Off, Croll, and Maddie Flint each had nine points to lead AU.
Hartwick plays tomorrow at Elmira's Murray Athletic Center in Pine Valley, NY at 4 p.m.