ONEONTA, NY – The Hartwick women's basketball team produced their highest offensive output of the season in their final contest of the calendar year on Monday night, as they rolled by visiting Morrisville State via a 76-61 score in Lambros Arena. The win moves the Hawks to 5-3 on the season, while the Mustangs drop to .500 at 5-5.
The Hawks jumped out to a six-point lead early on, as a Maggie Kirby (Selkirk, NY/Bethlehem) three was followed by a Bree Fargnoli (Binghamton, NY/Chenango Forks) lay-up for a 9-3 advantage with 4:05 gone by. The lead would stay at two possessions for the majority of the remainder of the first quarter, until Sareena DiCerbo's (Schenectady, NY/Colonie) free throw with 1:13 to go put the score at 16-9, which is where it would stay after one.
That lead was bumped up to 13 almost instantly to begin the second quarter, as Giuliana Pritchard (Amsterdam, NY/Amsterdam) assisted on a pair of three-point plays. The first was a Daniella DeBiase (Staten Island, NY/Xaverian) effort from beyond the arc 10 seconds into the period, which was followed on the next possession by a Maggie Kirby three-point play the hard way, giving the Hawks a 22-9 lead just 37 seconds in. Kirby helped extend that lead even further, scoring seven more points by the 4:46 mark for a 33-16 advantage. She would end up with 17 points on 7-of-11 from the field at the half. The Mustangs were able to stop the bleeding there and ultimately close the gap, going on a 15-6 run to close the period. At the break, 'Wick led 39-31.
Hartwick again extended their lead out to 13 to start the third, this time on an Isabella Astorino (Warwick, NY/Warwick Valley) lay-up followed by a Pritchard trey (assisted by Astorino) with 1:01 gone by. Once again, Morrisville narrowed their deficit to eight at 48-40 with 6:37 remaining in the third, but this time the home side took control for good, reeling off 10 consecutive points over 1:30 to grab a 58-40 lead just over halfway through. Both Astorino and Maggie Kirby had old-fashioned three-point plays during the stretch. An Astorino buzzer-beating lay-up gave the Hawks their largest lead of the evening to that point, at 66-47 after three.
Astorino put in another lay-up on Hartwick's first offensive possession of the fourth, producing what actually ended up being 'Wick's largest lead of the evening. The Hawks put it in cruise control from there, as the Mustangs lowered their deficit to as little as 13 but did not have nearly enough time to finish the job before the final buzzer sounded.
Maggie Kirby poured in a season-high 22 points on 8-of-14 shooting, the highest individual scoring output for any Hawk through the team's first eight games. She also picked up eight rebounds and had three steals. Pritchard was next up at 14 points on 5-of-9 from the field, six rebounds, four assists, three steals, and two blocks, and Astorino had 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting, six rebounds, and two assists. Fargnoli had her best game on the glass to date, with a career-high eight rebounds as well as six points, two steals, and an assist. Overall, 10 different Hawks found the scoresheet.
'Wick ended up with a sizeable shooting advantage, with 44.8% shot made from the field compared to 36.1% for their guests. That was reversed from deep, although neither team shot well from beyond the arc; Morrisville was 9-of-31 (29.0%) and Hartwick was 5-of-22 (22.7%). 'Wick had a massive rebounding advantage, at 47 to 32, including 20 to 13 on the offensive glass. This in part led to a 42-26 lead in paint points for the Hawks.
'Wick is back to it on Tuesday, January 4, 2022, when they begin Empire 8 Conference play against Russell Sage. Tip-off is set for 5:30 p.m. in Lambros Arena.
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