ONEONTA, NY – After trailing by as much as 17 points late in the third quarter, the Hartwick women's basketball team narrowed the gap to just five with 3:15 on the clock in the fourth but could not seal the deal, falling in their home conference opener to Sage on Friday night in Lambros Arena, 83-78. The loss drops the Hawks to 7-6 overall and 1-1 in the Empire 8, while the Gators are now 6-7 and 2-0 in the E8.

The two sides battled closely in the first quarter. Hartwick led for most of it, and Maggie Kirby (Selkirk, NY/Bethlehem) extended their lead to six at 20-14 with 2:15 to go. Sage fired back quickly, however, as Sammy Pasinella, en route to a career-high 29 points, hit threes on back-to-back possessions to knot the score. Giuliana Pritchard (Amsterdam, NY/Amsterdam) gave Hartwick a slim advantage after one, laying the ball in during the final minute for a 22-20 lead.

For the bulk of the second quarter the game looked the same as the first stanza. Hartwick and Sage found themselves tied at 37 with 3:07 to go after Megan Flynn put in a lay-up, assisted by Pasinella. From there, however, Sage scored the next ten points to take a 47-37 lead into the locker room. Pasinella did the bulk of the work; she started with a lay-up, ceded to Meredith Powell for a lay-up 34 seconds later, and then canned back-to-back threes in the final minute to give the Gators a double-digit advantage at the break.

After some more back and forth in the third, Sage began to build out their lead with under four to play. Megan Flynn and Kaitlyn Bowman each had four points over an 8-1 run, ballooning the visitors' lead to 17 at 63-46. Hartwick was able to get the lead down to a more manageable 12 points headed into the fourth, however, thanks in part to some quality free throw shooting.

Sage stymied 'Wick's comeback attempts to start out the fourth, as any momentum Hartwick gained with a bucket or two was generally answered on the other end. The Hawks finally got their deficit down to single-digits for good on a Maggie Kirby lay-up with 5:12 to go, and knocked the lead down to seven just over half-a-minute later when Mary Schoenherr (Unionville, CT/Farmington) sank two from the free throw line to make the score 71-64. 'Wick cut down the Sage lead even further to 71-66 with 3:15 on the clock, although a pair of one-of-two trips to the charity stripe kept the game above one possession. Sage finally found their offensive game again soon after, as the lead did not dip below five for the rest of the evening.

Maggie Kirby and Schoenherr led the way with nearly identical lines for the Hawks; each had 20 points (a career high for Schoenherr), eight rebounds, and one steal, although Kirby had three assists to Schoenherr's two. Kirby also shot 7-of-10 from the field over 40 minutes, while Schoenherr was 7-of-12 in just 25 minutes, limited due to foul trouble. Schoenherr's two assists give her 299 for her career, moving her into a tie for eighth on the program's all-time list. Pritchard scored 16 points, her third straight game with double-digit scoring, and also grabbed seven rebounds. Taylor Verboven (Columbia, CT/E.O. Smith) continued her strong play off the bench as of late, putting in a career-high 12 points and contributing elsewhere with three boards, two dimes, and a steal.

Pasinella stole the show for Sage, earning her career-high 29 points on 10-of-21 from the field and 5-of-11 from deep. She also had five assists. Three other Gators were in the double digits, scoring-wise: Bowman had 15 points, a game-high seven assists, five rebounds and a steal, Flynn registered 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting, grabbed a game-high nine rebounds, and also had one steal, and Gessica Patregnani had 10 points, a game-high four steals, three assists, and two rebounds.

Both teams shot fairly well overall, but Sage had the clear edge. They were at 50.0% from both the field and three, while Hartwick sank 46.2% of their shots overall and 36.8% from deep. Each side missed some opportunities from the free throw line, as the Gators were 15-of-22 (68.2%) and 'Wick was 23-of-32 (71.9%). 

The Hawks had a 35-30 advantage on the boards, and a 17-11 lead in second chance points despite a slim 12-11 margin on the offensive glass. Sage efficiently converted Hartwick turnovers into points, however, as though the Gators led the turnover battle just 14 to 12, they had a 23-10 advantage in points off of turnovers. They were also able to penetrate the Hawks' defense fairly easily all night, resulting in a 38-28 lead in paint points.

'Wick will get back to it tomorrow afternoon in Lambros, taking on Utica at 4 p.m. The 2018-19 Empire 8 Championship team will be honored at halftime of the 2 p.m. men's game.

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