AURORA, N.Y. -- A breakout game from first-year guard Mykenzie Malacusky '23 and a suffocating defensive performance by the Elmira College women's basketball team guided the Soaring Eagles to a 56-34 victory over Wells College on Tuesday evening.

The win marks the second in the last three days for the Soaring Eagles, who improved to 2-1 overall, while the Express dropped to 0-5 to start the 2019-20 campaign.

Malacusky, a rookie from Dushore, Pennsylvania, made her third consecutive start for the Purple and Gold, and the former 1,000-point scorer and all-state honoree from Sullivan County High School flashed her offensive potential against the Express. She more than doubled her output from Sunday's win over Becker College by netting a season-high 15 points to go along with six rebounds and two steals.

Also reaching double figures for the first time in her EC career was sophomore forward Taylor Albrecht '22, who poured in a career-high 10 points off of the bench. Fourth-year forward Lauren Franklin '20 was next on the team with seven points.

Although Elmira founded itself trailing by one, 9-8, at the end of the first quarter, the Soaring Eagles dominated the second quarter on both ends of the floor. EC outscored the Express 15-2 in the period, as the defense held Wells to one field goal on 12 attempts (8.3%) and forced six turnovers. As a result, the Soaring Eagles turned the narrow deficit into a 23-11 advantage at the half.

The Express whittled Elmira's lead down to single digits at 25-16 early in the third quarter, but the Soaring Eagles responded with a 7-0 run to widen the gap back to double figures for the remainder of the contest.

In Their Own Words…
 Head Coach Devin Shea following Elmira's second consecutive non-conference win…
 "We did a very nice job overall maintaining a certain level of play no matter who was out on the court. We moved the ball well and looked to make the extra pass tonight. Fourteen assists on 20 baskets are really nice to see."

News and Notes

• Elmira has won back-to-back games and climbed above .500 with a 2-1 overall record.
• The Soaring Eagles held the Express to a 23.1 field-goal percentage, the lowest of any opponent through the first three games of the season.
• The EC defense also came away with a season-high 11 steals on Tuesday evening.
• In just her third game as a Soaring Eagle, Malacusky scored a game-high 15 points.
• Albrecht surpassed her previous single-game career-high with 10 points.
• Taylor Johnson '23 led all players with 10 rebounds in the game.
• Haley Raville '23 and Alyssa Gadoury '23 both scored their first collegiate points against Wells.
• Marissa Maier '21 and Autumn Hunsinger '23 each made their debuts off of the bench.

Up Next
Next Tuesday, November 26, the Soaring Eagles will travel to Cortland, New York, for a non-conference matchup with SUNY Cortland at 5:00 p.m.