ONEONTA, NY – Freshman Kate Purcell (Buffalo, NY/Mount Mercy) netted a career-high of 28 points, but it wasn't enough as Utica College defeated Hartwick's women's basketball team in an Empire 8 Conference contest tonight at Lambros Arena, 71-60. Utica broke open the game in the latter stages of the second half when the Pioneers used a 16-6 run in a six and a half minute span to grab a 14-point lead.
With the victory, the Pioneers improve to 8-7 overall, and 4-2 in Empire 8. Hartwick falls to 4-8 overall and 1-4 in the conference.
Purcellshot 6-of-10 from the field and 4-of-6 from three-point range in the first half to finish the period with 17 points. The Hawks trailed by as many as 10 with 8:47 left in the period before a 14-5 run brought them back to within a point, 27-26. 'Wick, which shot 48% from the field and 63% from three-point range in the first half, would head into the locker room down just three, 32-29.
In the second session, Utica maintained a slim margin for the first 10 minutes. Purcell hit a three-pointer with 10:08 to go to cut the Pioneer edge to 45-41, but UC would hit five of their next eight shots and made seven of eight from the free-throw line over the next seven minutes to take a commanding 61-47 lead.
Hartwick managed to cut the visitors' lead to seven, 65-58, on Kate Veit (easthampton, MA/Holyoke Catholic) three-pointer with less than a minute to play, but six straight Pioneers free throws put the game away.
Purcell ended the game shooting 67% from the field (10-for-15) and 71% from beyond the arc (5-of-7). She added five rebounds and two steals. Freshman Maria Foglia (Rensselaer, NY/Catholic Central) contributed 11 points and four rebounds, while senior Fritzi Flores (Bergenfield, NJ/Paramus Catholic) chipped in nine points and two rebounds to round out the night for Hartwick.
The 'Wick defense held reigning Empire 8 Player of the Year and conference leading scorer Jessica Berry (Rome, NY/Rome Free Acad.) to only nine points in the game but four other UC players made it into double figures, led by Meghan Fiore's (Epping, NH/Epping) 20 points. Katie McGee (Philadelphia, PA/Nazareth) added 13 points. Berry pulled down a game-high 15 boards.
The Hawks play at Elmira College in an Empire 8 contest this Friday in their next contest. Game time is 6:00 p.m.
