Score: Elmira College 60, Ohio Wesleyan University 55
Records: Elmira (8-1), Ohio Wesleyan (1-8)
Location: McArthur Center -- St. Petersburg, Fla.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- The Elmira College women's basketball team concluded the D3 St. Pete Classic and the 2017 portion of the schedule with a 60-55 victory over Ohio Wesleyan University at Eckerd College's McArthur Center in St. Petersburg, Florida.

With the triumph over the Battling Bishops, the Soaring Eagles improved to 8-1 on the season and have already surpassed their win total from all of last season. Despite having their unbeaten streak halted by Berry College (Ga.) in the first round of the D3 St. Pete Classic on Wednesday, the Purple and Gold head into the holiday break in the midst of one of the best starts in program history.

Thursday's win against Ohio Wesleyan didn't come easy. Unlike the loss to Berry, the Soaring Eagles were able to recover from a slow start in the opening quarter. Ohio Wesleyan scored the game's first six points, but Danielle Cleary '18 ended EC's scoreless drought with a 3-pointer 3:33 into the quarter that cut the deficit in half, 6-3. An Emily Green '18 trey a little over four minutes later knotted the score at 13-all, but Morgan King sunk a late 3-point field goal of her own to give the Battling Bishops a 16-14 lead after 10 minutes of play.

The second quarter was all Elmira, as the Soaring Eagles outscored Ohio Wesleyan 17-7 in the frame to pull ahead by eight at the halftime intermission, 31-23. The play of Rachel Vespucci '19 and Sally Hogan '19 in the post was a difference maker in the second period, as the duo combined for 12 points in the stanza. Vespucci alone was responsible for eight of those points and the third-year forward went on to lead all scorers with 17 in the game.

The Battling Bishops flipped the script on EC in the third quarter, however, as Ohio Wesleyan turned up the tempo and outscored the Soaring Eagles 20-7. Elmira didn't help its cause by turning the ball over eight times and shooting a meager 27.3 percent (3-for-11) from the field in the quarter. OWU's Erin Delaney opened the second half with a 3-pointer and then convert an and-one to put the Battling Bishops up by one, 37-36. Ohio Wesleyan continued to make big plays in the final minutes of the period, as Tia Karras drained a trey and her sister, Elea Karras, recorded an unconventional three-point play a minute later, which gave the Bishops a 43-36 lead.

The EC offense finally came to life in the fourth, as the Soaring Eagles shot a superb 58.3 percent (7-for-12) from the field while making 7-of-11 free throw attempts. A 9-4 run to open the quarter allowed Elmira to level the score at 47-all. With the back-and-forth affair still tied, this time at 51-all, Cleary nailed a 3-pointer that gave EC the lead for good at 54-51. Down by two at 57-55 with 32 seconds remaining, Claire Sterling committed a costly turnover for Ohio Wesleyan, as she tripped and was charged with a traveling violation in an attempt to save the ball from going out of bounds. On the other end of the court, Lindsey Heaton '19 made 3-of-4 free throws in the final 25 seconds to put the game out of reach.

In Their Own Words...
Head Coach Shannon Howley on Elmira's ability to bounce back on Thursday after suffering its first loss of the season the day prior...
"I think our first half was really good. We did a great job on the boards, our intensity was good, we gave up just 23 points at the half and we spread out the scoring, so we did all of the things that we didn't do yesterday and we were able to take a lead into halftime."

Coach Howley when asked about the team's strong fourth-quarter effort after a dismal third quarter...
"Our board work kind of went away a little bit. We missed some assignments, especially in transition, which was our problem yesterday. I think we had a little lull there and that carried over onto the offensive end of the floor. We just didn't do a very good job of settling in. We let them back in the game early and we had to regroup."

Coach Howley on the performance of EC's post players...
"I think their work rate was much better. I don't think they worked as hard to get the ball yesterday. We need to be versatile. We can't have one person scoring double-digits for us to be successful; we need three or four players to consistently be in double-digits. So that means we got to get that from our post play. If we do that, then we give ourselves a really good chance."

Coach Howley talks about wrapping up an impressive first half of the season...
"I think the first half has gone well. Our mantra has always been 'defend, rebound, compete.' I think when we do those three things together, we win. Yesterday in our loss we only did one of those three things. Scoring is going to come and go, we know that, but when we defend the way we've been defending, we give ourselves chances to win games. It doesn't get any easier in the second half. We have three tough games and we open up with the No. 1 team in the conference. We're going to rest up here for the holiday and come back re-focused and start anew because our season starts January 2."

News and Notes

• Elmira improves to 8-1 overall this season.
• EC is 1-0 all-time against Ohio Wesleyan.
• With eight victories, the Soaring Eagles have already bested last year's win total by one.
• After shooting a season-low 24.2 percent from the field in the loss to Berry, the Purple and Gold finished with a season-best 41.2 field-goal percentage (21-for-51) on Thursday.
• Vespucci recorded her third double-double of the year and scored a season-high 17 points.
• Cleary has scored in double figures seven times this year.
• Heaton, who went 6-for-8 from the charity stripe, also tallied double-digit points with 10, her third such game of the season.

Up Next
The Elmira women open Empire 8 Conference play on Tuesday, January 2, when the Soaring Eagles head to Hoboken, New Jersey, for a 7:00 p.m. matchup against the Ducks of the Stevens Institute of Technology.