Courtesy: Cardinals Athletics
Freshman Sidney Tomasso scored a career-high 21 points on Saturday as the nationally-ranked St. John Fisher College women’s basketball team held on to down Nazareth College, 78-73, in an Empire 8 pairing inside Manning and Napier Varsity Gymnasium on Bobby Wanzer Court. With the win, Fisher, which is ranked 23rd in the latest D3hoops.com poll, improved to 16-2 on the season and 8-1 in the league standings while the Golden Flyers slipped to 11-6 overall and 6-2 against conference opponents.
Both teams had the hot hand early on as the Cardinals opened the game with seven unanswered points before the Golden Flyers roared back with an 8-0 run of their own to post a one-point cushion with five minutes gone by.
Trailing by one, Fisher countered and built a double-digit margin after reeling off 12 straight points on 5-of-6 shooting including five points from Miranda Lynch to open up a 19-8 edge.
As the first quarter wore on, Nazareth regained its footing and closed out the period with 11 of the final 16 points to enter the second frame trailing by just five.
Holding a two possession cushion with 10 minutes to play before the break, Fisher saw its advantage slip to three points before a jumper from Tomasso sparked a quick 8-3 burst to push the Cardinals’ hold to eight points at the midway mark.
With momentum favoring the home team, Nazareth looked to up the tempo and cut the lead to six, but the Cardinals continued to fire on all cylinders and strung together seven of the game’s next 11 points to forge ahead, 43-34, with halftime looming.
Fisher continued to control the pace throughout the third period and entered the final 10 minutes of play sporting a 59-48 lead. From there, the Cardinals’ advantage would grow to as many as 13 points following an old-fashioned three-point play from Claire Kruszka that made it 64-51, but the home team’s pace would slow as the period ticked away with Nazareth scoring eight unmatched points to pull to within four, with under two minutes showing on the clock.
Clinging to a slight lead with time running out, Tomasso afforded Fisher some breathing room after drilling a lay-up and the ensuing free throw, but the Golden Flyers scored two quick buckets to make it a three-point contest with 35 seconds to go before the final horn.
With just one possession separating the two teams, Nazareth resorted to fouling to preserve time, but Fisher was up to the task and connected on five of its final six free throw attempts to remain atop the Empire 8 standings.
Tomasso finished with 21 points on 9-of-15 shooting to go along with four rebounds and three assists while Leah Koonmen poured in 13 points and grabbed nine boards of her own. Kaitlyn Walker chipped in with 10 points and eight rebounds while Lynch netted 11 points off the bench.
Overall, Fisher was 31-for-62 (.500) from the floor and handed out 17 assists.
The Cardinals will return to action at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday when they travel to Houghton to face the Highlanders for the second time this season.
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