ROCHESTER, NY – It was in doubt until the final day of the regular season, but the Hartwick women's basketball team did earn a chance to defend their Empire 8 Championship this season. The Hawks secured the final playoff spot last Saturday with some help from their Semifinal opponents, as their win over Elmira coupled with St. John Fisher's victory against Nazareth brought 'Wick into playoff position. The fourth-seeded Hawks (14-11, 8-6 E8) will take on the top-seeded Cardinals (19-6, 12-2 E8) in the Empire 8 Semifinals tonight at 5:30 p.m. in Fisher's Manning & Napier Gymnasium.

Hartwick has been led by a trio of players this season, each of whom earned All-Conference recognition yesterday:

• Giuliana Pritchard (Amsterdam, NY/Amsterdam), named to the Second Team, has been important offensively and defensively, inside and outside, all year. She is averaging a near double-double in conference play, with 13.0 points per game and 9.7 rebounds per game, leads the team in rebounding, steals, and blocks, and is second in scoring and assists. 
• Mary Schoenherr (Unionville, CT/Farmington), also named to the Second Team, progressed as the year went on and was critical to 'Wick's playoff push. She leads the team in assists in conference games (2.7 per game), is second in scoring (13.5) and rebounding (7.1), and ranks among the top ten in the conference in all three of those categories. The junior guard registered the two highest-scoring games of her career earlier this month when she dropped 23 points against St. John Fisher on February 8 and came right back the next day to put in 21 points in a win over Nazareth that was crucial to 'Wick's playoff hopes.
• Maggie Kirby (Selkirk, NY/Bethlehem) earned an All-Conference Honorable Mention for the second year in a row to start her career, and she leads the Hawks in conference scoring with 14.0 points per game.  Kirby is among the conference leaders in quite a few categories, including seventh in field goal percentage at a team-high 43.0%. She has scored in the double digits in 21 of 25 games this season and had a streak of seven out of nine 19+-point games throughout December and January. The last five of those contests were conference games.

St. John Fisher also placed three players on All-Conference teams, including First Teamer Ella Eckert. The regionally-ranked #7 Cardinals are led by the Empire 8 Coaching Staff of the Year, which in turn is led by Head Coach Melissa Kuberka:

• Eckert, an Empire 8 Honorable Mention as a freshman last season, has taken her game to another level this year. She leads St. John Fisher in both scoring and rebounding, and is third in assists. Her 15.8 points per game are fourth in the conference and 9.4 rebounds per game are fifth; her name can be found all over the rest of the leaderboards. Eckert has scored in the double-digits in all but five games this year, including a high of 25 points against Sage in January, the last of which gave the Cardinals a 59-58 victory.
• Miranda Lynch earned Second Team honors for Fisher. She is second on the team and 12th in the conference in scoring with 12.9 points per game, and has been lethal from beyond the arc. Among qualified players she leads the conference in both three-point field goal percentage (43.8%) and three-point field goals per game (3.0), blowing away the nearest competition. She is also 18th in the country in overall three-point FG%, at 41.8%. Lynch has been on a particularly potent run as of late, scoring in the double digits the last six games, including a 23-point performance against Alfred on February 1 that saw her go 7-of-9 from three.
• Julia Mertsock is the final All-Conference Cardinal, earning an Honorable Mention. Mertsock is third on the team in scoring (11.0 points per conference game) and second in rebounding (8.1). The six-foot forward is second in the conference in field goal percentage, at 51.4%, fifth in steals with 1.8 per game, and seventh in rebounding at 8.1 per game. Like Lynch, she has been on a roll to end the regular season, scoring in the double digits her last five games (including three double-doubles and an 18-point, 9-of-10 shooting performance in the regular season finale against rival Nazareth).

St. John Fisher and Hartwick have met twice this season, both resulting in narrow Cardinals victories. They first played on January 25 in Rochester in a contest that saw the Hawks come back from an early 12-point deficit to make it a one-possession game in the fourth quarter. 'Wick had multiple chances to tie and take the lead in the final ten minutes, but could not get it done, ultimately falling 62-54. Hartwick was looking for revenge at home on February 8, but came away with an even more heartbreaking loss instead. Schoenherr dropped a career-high 23 points as 'Wick again made a comeback to tie the game at 51 after three. The Hawks found themselves down by two in the final half-minute, but Kayley Ericson (Franklin, CT/Norwich Free Academy) drove to the hoop and banked in a left-handed lay-up to tie the game at 68 with 21 seconds to go. That scoreline did not last, however, as Fisher's Leah Koonmen drained a corner three with 4.1 seconds showing on the scoreboard to effectively give the Cardinals a win, as the final score was 73-69.

These two teams have met twice in Empire 8 Tournament history. The first was back in the inaugural 2004 tournament, which saw the Cardinals down the Hawks 79-70 in the Semifinals before losing to Ithaca in the Championship. The most recent postseason meeting between the two sides happened just last year in the title game. Hartwick, which cruised to the number one seed in the regular season, did the same in the Championship game, downing Fisher 69-62. The win earned the Hawks their first ever Empire 8 Championship, and denied the Cardinals their first since 2015.

Live stats for Friday's game can be found here, and the live video stream can be found here. For those attending the game, tickets cost $6 for adults, $4 for students and seniors with ID, and are free for children under 12.

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