Box Score ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Ithaca College women's basketball team had its seven-game winning streak snapped by St. John Fisher on Saturday in an Empire 8 contest, 54-49, in Rochester. Ithaca is now 13-4 overall and 7-1 in the Empire 8, while Fisher improves to 13-4 and 6-2.

Ithaca led at intermission, 28-22, but Fisher opened the second half on a 14-0 run and never looked back.

The Bombers got off to an early 3-0 lead within the first 1:25 of the game on a pair of made free throws from sophomore Ali Ricchiuti and 1-for-2 at the line by senior Francesca Cotrupe. Fisher cracked the scoreboard a minute later, but junior Keri Steele put Ithaca back up by three on a layup with 16:18 left in the half.

Neither team would score over the next 3:28 until Fisher ended the drought on its second basket at the 12:54 mark to make the score 5-4. The Cardinals then took their first lead of the game at 6-5 on a pair from the stripe 31 seconds later.

Sophomore Alex Gilligan ended Ithaca's scoreless stretch of 4:02 on a three-pointer (12:16) and then hit another one from long range to give the Bombers an 11-6 edge with 10:53 to go. Fisher answered with its first three-pointer on the ensuing possession, but freshman Jordan Beers came right back down the floor to put in a layup midway through the half.

Gilligan drilled her third three-pointer to put Ithaca up by seven points, 16-9, with 9:43 remaining, and Beers tallied her second basket with just under eight minutes to play that doubled-up the score at 18-9. Fisher snapped Ithaca's 7-0 run on two free throws just 40 seconds later, and the Cardinals then cut the score to five points, 18-13, at the 6:39 mark. Senior Ally Mnich quickly pushed the difference back out to eight, 21-13, on another three-pointer for the Bombers, and the first double-digit lead of the contest occurred with 5:45 left on Ithaca's fifth three-pointer from Ricchiuti, 24-13.

Fisher closed out the final 5:45 of the first half on a 9-4 run to pull to within six points at 28-22. The Cardinals' final basket came from three-point range with just five seconds left on the clock.

Ithaca shot 40.0-percent (10-for-25) in the first half and 5-for-10 from three-point distance. Fisher went 8-for-25 from the floor and 2-for-6 behind the arc.

Fisher came out of the break on fire and went on a 14-0 run over the first 7:42 to go ahead, 36-28, before Ithaca could find the basket. The Cardinals quickly regained their eight-point cushion with exactly 12 minutes left in regulation and then went up by 10 points, 41-31, with 10:52 to go.

The Bombers clawed back to within a single possession at 41-38 with a 7-0 run in less than a minute on a three and layup from Ricchiuti, and a basket from senior Samantha Klie.  After another drought of nearly two minutes on both ends, Steele sunk a pair at the line to pull the Bombers to within a point at 41-40 and extended Ithaca's run to 9-0 with 7:08 remaining.

Fisher finally found the bottom of the net to go back up by three at 43-40 at the 6:17 mark, and after Steele went 1-for-2 at the line, the Cardinals capitalized on an and-one to increase their advantage to five at 46-41.

Ithaca's deficit grew to seven, 50-43, with 4:23 left after Fisher made four free throws in a 40-second span. The Bombers would make four consecutive attempts at the line from Steele and Mnich to climb back to within three points at 50-47 with just under three minutes left in regulation.

With 2:30 on the clock, Fisher scored in the paint to go up by five at 52-47, and then Cotrupe made the second of two tries at the line with 2:06 left. After a timeout called by Fisher with 1:37 remaining, Cotrupe was sent back to the line again and sunk 1-of-2 which made the score 52-49.

The Bombers missed three shots on their next possession before Fisher grabbed a rebound and iced the game with two free throws at the other end to secure the come-from-behind win, 54-49.

Ithaca went just 5-for-33 in the second half, while Fisher made 10-of-21 shots. The Cardinals also went 10-for-11 at the free throw line and the Bombers connected on 10-of-16 attempts.

Ithaca will look to get back in the winning column on Friday, Jan. 30 when it hosts Utica at 6 p.m.

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