ELMIRA, NY – The Alfred University women's basketball team came up short in a  61-56 loss against Elmira College on Saturday afternoon from the Speidel Gymnasium.

The Saxons (10-6, 5-5 Empire 8) tied the game 56-56, but couldn't pull out the win as Elmira took the lead and didn't look back with 52 seconds to play.

Leah Harkenrider (Hornell, NY/Hornell) scored a career-high 22 points to lead the Saxons in scoring for the day. Karly Welty (Portville, NY/Portville Central) added 10 points of her own, along with five rebounds and four assists. Gillian Flint (Caledonia, NY/Caledonia-Mumford) finished the game with nine points, four rebounds and an assist. 

"The first quarter was back and forth," Head Coach Mike Moskowitz said. They did some good things, we did some good things. In the second quarter, we really locked in defensively and that led to some easy transition looks. We also had some great downhill drives in there that led to points in the paint and free throw opportunities. They executed well in the third quarter and brought it back close and tied into the fourth quarter."

The first half had five lead changes, but the Saxons rallied into halftime with a 30-22 lead. Elmira mounted their comeback in the third quarter tied the game to start the fourth quarter. Both teams traded buckets until around two minutes to play when Elmira opened up its first two-score lead of the game with a 54-50 advantage. The Saxons battled back and cut the lead to one with a three-pointer from Harkenrider with 1:52 to play. Elmira then made a basket of their own to reopen the lead to three points. On the next possession, Harkenrider made another clutch shot from beyond the arc to tie the game. Unfortunately, late back-to-back three-pointers from Harkenrider weren't enough, as Elmira sealed the win.

"It was a back-and-forth battle against a good team on the road and #24 ultimately hit a big-time jump shot to give them the lead with just under a minute to go. Credit to Elmira, they played very well this afternoon and came out with a solid win," Moskowitz said

Alfred University will return to action Friday at home for the first leg of a conference doubleheader against Nazareth College, with the tip-off currently scheduled for 5:30 PM.