NEW YORK, NY – A long day of travel did not slow down the Hartwick women's basketball team, as they took down former conference rival Stevens Institute of Technology, 73-61, in a rematch of last season's Empire 8 Tournament Semifinal on Saturday night. The win, which was secured in Hartwick's first game of the NYU Tournament played at Hunter College, is the first of the season for the Hawks, bumping them up to 1-2. The Ducks drop their first of the year, moving to 1-1.
Hartwick got off to a dream start, finding themselves up 10-0 just over three minutes in. A pair of Kelly Pine (Hoosick Falls, NY/Hoosick Falls) lay-ups assisted by Giuliana Pritchard (Amsterdam, NY/Amsterdam) sandwiched two Molly Kirby (Selkirk, NY/Bethlehem) threes for the early lead. The Hawks found themselves leading by as much as 14-2 in the quarter, but had to settle for a 16-9 lead after ten minutes.
'Wick went back to it to start the second, and led by 13 at the 6:30 mark after Prichard made a lay-up and hit a three on back-to-back possessions to make the score 24-11 (although that was quickly cut to 24-14 when Allie Moss canned a three on the other end). Stevens stayed with it, though, and cut the lead down to six at 28-22 after an Emily Nunez three-pointer. The Hawks would end up with a seven-point lead at the half, at 30-23.
It looked like the Ducks might be poised to take the lead in the third, as a Moss lay-up made the score 30-27 and Nunez responded to a subsequent Pritchard three with another one of her own. The Hawks were able to stave that off, however; Maggie Kirby (Selkirk, NY/Bethlehem) got fouled and hit two free throws, Pritchard banged in another one from deep, and Pine hit a jumper, and the lead was 40-30 with 3:31 remaining. Hartwick led by as much as 12 in the quarter, but Meghan Douglas beat the buzzer on a fast-break lay-up to send the teams to the fourth with a 46-36 score.
The fourth quarter saw by far the most scoring, as the teams combined for 52 points (the next highest combined quarter total was 29 in the third). Hartwick grabbed their largest lead of the game on a Maggie Kirby jumper at 6:26, going ahead 55-41. Stevens scored the next six points to cut their deficit to eight, but 'Wick ballooned it back out to 13 on a Pine three with 3:33 to go, putting the game firmly within their grasp. The Ducks did their best to make a furious comeback, and saw themselves down by seven when Christina Li sank a three with 1:11 left. Time was not on their side, however, and when Molly Kirby hit a pair of free throws and then got a fast-break lay-up off a Pritchard steal to put the Hawks up 68-57 with under a minute to go, the game was all but over. Hartwick made five of their final six free throws to ensure that Stevens could not weasel their way back into it.
Pine led the way for Hartwick with her first double-double of the year, putting in 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting and grabbing 12 rebounds. She also had three assists, a block, and a steal. Pritchard tied Pine for the team high of 19 points, just missed a double-double with nine rebounds, tied Mary Schoenherr (Unionville, CT/Farmington) for the game high of four assists, had two steals, and a block. Molly Kirby scored 14 points, had a team-high three steals, four rebounds, and two assists, and her sister Maggie was not far behind at 11 points to go with six rebounds, two assists, a block, and a steal. Schoenherr was second on the team with 10 rebounds, also contributing five points, four assists, and two steals.
Stevens' Moss led all players with 20 points on an efficient 7-of-12 shooting, also chipping in a game-high-tying four assists. Li was second on the Ducks with 11 points, and Annetta Panayides had 10 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Jess Broad had seven points, seven rebounds, a game-high five steals, and two blocks for her squad.
Hartwick definitively outshot Stevens, 46.3% to 30.6% from the field, and also had a big advantage from three, 43.8% (7-of-16) to 29.0% (9-of-31). Stevens had a clear lead in the turnover battle, giving it up just 18 times to 'Wick's 27, but it was the Hawks who had the 20-18 advantage in points off of turnovers. Hartwick also had a significant lead when it came to paint points, at 32-20.
Hartwick looks to go 2-0 this weekend in The City That Never Sleeps, but they will need some shut-eye to do so, as they take on St. Lawrence tomorrow at 1 p.m. for their second game of the NYU Tournament at Hunter College.
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