HOBOKEN, N.J. – The Ithaca College women's basketball suffered a 61-50 Empire 8 Conference loss to Stevens Institute of Technology, 61-50, in Canavan Arena on Tuesday evening. Ithaca falls to 11-10 on the season and 7-5 in the conference, while Stevens improves to 16-5 overall and remains perfect in the E8 with a 12-0 mark.

The Bombers fell behind Stevens, 12-2, with the first four minutes of the game and were forced to call a timeout and try to regroup. Out of the timeout, the Ducks increased their lead to 16-2 before Ithaca could put in another basket. A three-pointer from freshman Annie Giannone and a 1-for-2 trip at the line for junior Erin Ferguson brought the difference back to 10 points, 18-8, with just under four minutes to play in the quarter. Gianonne pulled Ithaca to within eight points, 18-10, with 28 seconds to go, but Stevens pushed the lead back out to 10 with the final basket of the period with four seconds to play.

Stevens held onto at least an eight-point cushion for the entire second quarter except for when Ithaca got to within seven points at 36-29 with 1:48 left in the half on a bucket from Ferguson. From there, the Ducks held Ithaca scoreless and tacked on three more points to take a 10-point lead, 39-29, into the break.

Ferguson netted 15 points in the first half en route to a career-high-tying 19 points on 9-of-12 shooting. She also pulled down 13 rebounds for her third double-double of the season.

As the third quarter got underway, sophomore Erin Woop connected on a three to cut Ithaca's deficit to seven at 39-32 within the opening minute, but a layup from Stevens pushed the difference back out to nine with 8:44 on the clock. Both teams would go scoreless for over two minutes until junior Ali Ricchiuti brought the Bombers back to within seven, 41-34, with 6:16 left. A layup from Ferguson trimmed the margin down to five at the 5:45 mark, but that was the closest Ithaca would get for the rest of the game.

The lead grew to 15 for Stevens just 1:53 into the fourth, and remained at double-digits until a three-ball from sophomore Allison Spaschak trimmed the deficit down to eight at 55-47 with 3:45 left. The Bombers could only score three points the rest of the way and Stevens secured the 61-50 win.

Ricchiuti tallied eight points in the loss, while Woop added six. Giannone chipped in five points and junior Shayna Gaskins added four points.

The Bombers struggled at the line, going just 4-for-13 overall, and were outrebounded, 48-37. Ithaca also went just 4-for-23 from behind the arc.

Ithaca returns to action for a pair of home conference games against Houghton and Alfred on Friday and Saturday. Friday's game against Houghton starts at 8 p.m. and Alfred enters Ben Light Gymnasium at 4 p.m. on the 13th.