HOBOKEN, NJ – The Hartwick women's basketball team moved one step closer to clinching the first overall seed in the Empire 8 Conference Tournament on Saturday night, beating the Stevens Institute of Technology on the road, 71-64. Carly Johnson (Greenville, NY/Greenville Central) had a record-breaking night, scoring a game-high 24 points and becoming the program's all-time leading three-point scorer, eclipsing the previous mark of 166 held by Kate Purcell. The Hawks are now 20-4 (13-2 E8), their first 20-win season since 2013-14, and would clinch first place in the conference (and the right to host the playoffs) with either a win in their final game or a loss by at least one of Nazareth and St. John Fisher in their final game. The Ducks, who dropped from second to third place as a result of their loss, finish their regular season at 17-7 (12-4 E8), and have to wait to see how the final games play out to find out their tournament seeding.
The start of the game was moved back 3.5 hours, which may have contributed to each team feeling the other out for the first part of the game. Stevens led Hartwick, 7-6, with 3:58 left in the opening period, but 'Wick went on a 10-0 run to open up a nine-point lead. Johnson opened it up with the record-tying three, and was followed by a conventional three-point play from Kelly Pine (Hoosick Falls, NY/Hoosick Falls) on the next possession. Molly Kirby (Selkirk, NY/Bethlehem) potted a fast-break lay-up just under a minute later, and Johnson capped the stretch with a jumper. The Ducks were able to close the gap before the period ended, though, scoring the last five points to make the score 16-12 after one. Johnson extended the lead back out to eight to start the second quarter, making the first two buckets of the quarter. The hosts were generally able to match the Hawks after that, as the margin mostly stayed between six and eight for most of the period. Johnson took over the last minute and a half, however, with the Hawks up six. She made the record-breaking three-pointer with 1:26 on the clock, and then drilled another with 59 seconds left, getting fouled and making the free throw for a four-point play. Johnson had 16 points at the half, and the Hawks led comfortably, 35-24.
The rest of the game would not be so easy. Stevens closed the gap to six multiple times throughout the third quarter, and even got it down to five when Allie Moss hit a three with 2:47 on the clock. The Hawks went back up by ten after a Caitlin Corbett (Altamont, NY/Guilderland) jumper in the final minute, but a Moss-assisted Christina Li three made the score 55-48, as the Ducks outscored 'Wick in the third quarter, 24-20. Stevens made even more of a push in the final quarter, quickly making it a one-possession game when Jess Broad hit a shot just 1:23 in. Johnson hit another three to make the lead six a couple possessions later, but back-to-back Stevens lay-ups by Moss and Sam Winter cut the lead to just two, at 62-60. The Ducks had a chance to tie with 2:11 left when Anna Toke went to the line for a pair of free throws with her team down two points, but she went 1-of-2 from the charity stripe, making the score 65-64. Broad grabbed the offensive rebound off of the Toke's miss, but missed two putback attempts and Hartwick's Johnson snatched the rebound and was fouled. Stevens would not score for the rest of the night, as Corbett made it a three-point game on a lay-up with 1:22 left and Pine iced the game by going 4-of-4 from the line over the final 13 seconds.
Johnson scored her 24 on 8-of-16 shooting, including 4-of-6 from deep. She also had a game-high three steals, three rebounds, and an assist. Pine registered a double-double, scoring 15 points (her fifth straight game with at least 15 points score) and pulling down 12 rebounds (five offensive). She had three assists and a block, as well. As she often does, Mary Schoenherr (Unionville, CT/Farmington) had a great all-around evening, scoring 12 points, gathering eight rebounds (four offensive), dishing a team-high five assists, and throwing in two steals and a block for good measure. Corbett and Alexa DuBois (Hobart, NY/South Kortright) each scored eight points, grabbing seven and five rebounds, respectively.
The teams had similar shooting nights from the field. Hartwick made 40.6% of their shots to Stevens' 39.1%, also narrowly outshooting the hosts from deep, 36.4% to 33.3%. There was a significant difference from the free throw line; 'Wick missed just one shot, making 15 of 16 (93.8%), while the Ducks were just 55.6%, missing eight of their 18 chances. Hartwick outrebounded Stevens by five, 42-37. The teams were even at 15 offensive rebounds apiece, but the Hawks had a monster 23-7 lead in second chance points. Stevens was just a touch more careful with the rock, turning it over 13 times to Hartwick's 14, although they had a significant 14-3 lead in points off of turnovers.
Toke, a graduate student, did it all on her senior night, posting a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds (five offensive), also adding in a game-high four blocks, two steals, and two assists. Maddi Hahn led the Ducks with 19 points on 8-of-15 from the field to go with her five rebounds, two assists, and a steal. Broad had a nice night, scoring seven points and registering eight rebounds, a game-high six assists, two steals, and a block.
The Hawks finish out their regular season on Monday, playing on the road against The Sage Colleges in a makeup game from Tuesday, February 12. Tip-off is at 5:30 p.m. Hartwick is guaranteed at least a second place finish in the Empire 8 regular season standings, but would guarantee themselves first place with a win against the Gators.
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