Women's Basketball 12/1/2009 9:43:23 PM Chris Gondek, Hartwick SID

Women’s Basketball Edged by Skidmore 55-53

Women's Basketball 12/1/2009 9:43:23 PM Chris Gondek, Hartwick SID

Women’s Basketball Edged by Skidmore 55-53

          ONEONTA, NY – Skidmore College (4-0) hung on to defeat Hartwick's women's basketball team on Tuesday night, 55-53, at Lambros Arena. The Hawks trailed by 12 points with just over four minutes left and managed to cut the Thoroughbred lead to two with 30 seconds left but fell a bucket short. With the loss the Hawks fall to 2-3 overall entering Empire 8 play this weekend.
          Freshman Jalicia Connell (Westbury, NY/Hicksville), who led all scorers with 18 points on the night, ignited the late Hawk run with two three-pointers in a 1:23 span. Five straight points by guard Lauren Ploof (Hammond, NY/Hammond) would then shave the Skidmpre lead to three points, 53-50, with 1:18 to go.
          Christine Kemp netted a jumper for the Thoroughbreds with a minute left to extend the edge to five points before two Cassie Dresser (Ovid, NY/South Seneca) free throws made it a three point game seconds later.
          Fritzi Flores (Bergenfield, NJ/Paramus) would come up with a steal on the defensive and after a foul, sank her first free throw to cut the lead to two, 55-53, with 32 ticks left. Flores would come down with an offensive board after a miss on her second attempt and her potential go-ahead three-pointer was off the mark. Connell kept the Hawks alive with another offensive rebound and after a timeout, her three-point effort with nine seconds left wouldn't fall. The Thoroughbreds got the rebound with five seconds left and ran out the clock to escape with the win.
          To go along with Connell's 18 points, Flores finished with 16 for the Hawks. Ploof led Hartwick with nine rebounds and five assists.
          Sharlyn Harper paced three players in double figures with 12 for Skidmore. Megan Gaugler added 11 points and Gedville Gineitye chipped in with 10. Dana Leonard pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds.
          The Hawks and Thoroughbreds played to a 24-24 tie at the half with Flores and Connell dropping in eight points each for 'Wick and Harper and Christina Gargiso netting seven apiece for Skidmore. The Thoroughbreds jumped out to a quick six-point lead in the second half on back-to-back three's from Gaugler and Harper and they never trailed the rest of the way. Hartwick matched Skidmore step for step until a 16-4 run over a six-minute span would put the Thoroughbreds up 12 with four minutes to play.
          Skidmore shot 32.4% for the game with the Hawks shooting slightly at 32.8%. The Thoroughbreds outrebounded 'Wick by a wide 56-37 margin, including pulling down 25 offensive rebounds on the night.

Hartwick returns to action on Friday night at Ithaca in its E8 opener beginning at 6 p.m.

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