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Issue date: 3/5/10 Section: Sports

Credit: www.utica.edu [Click to enlarge]

The Utica College Women's Basketball team played two very tough games and the best of the best in the Empire 8 conference over this past weekend.

In their first conference tournament match-up, the Lady Pioneers took care of the Stevens Institute of Technology Ducks in a seesaw battle on Friday night at Ben Light Gymnasium in Ithaca, N.Y.

The Lady Pioneers were able to gain a lead late in the game and hold on for the semi-final victory by the score of 64-59.
The very next day, Utica took on top-seeded Ithaca College, where defense was the name of the game as both teams scored a season-low in points.

UC junior forward and Empire 8 conference player of the year Jessica Berry hit the game winning shot as time expired to give the Lady Pioneers not only the win by the score of 38-37, but another Empire 8 conference title.

With the win, Utica gets an automatic bid into the Division III NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament. The win also marks their second conference title and automatic bid in the last three years.

In Utica's first match-up of the weekend against Stevens in the conference semifinals, the Lady Pioneers started out slow, trailed the entire first half, missed all four three-point attempts they took and shot an abysmal 32 percent in the first half.

UC trailed at the half by six, 28-22, and at the start of the second half, it appeared as if the Lady Ducks were going to pull away and coast to an easy victory. With about 15 minutes remaining in the game, junior center Victoria O'Connor netted a layup to put Stevens up 39-30.

From that point, the Pioneers went on a five-minute, 18-7 run, to take a 48-46 lead on two free throws by Berry. UC was actually able to raise their lead to six at 52-46 on a layup by freshman center Meghan Fiore with about eight minutes remaining.

However, Stevens was not going to give up without a fight. The Lady Ducks were able to battle back and actually take a quick lead at 54-52.

Unfortunately for the Ducks, that would be the last lead that they would have, as the Lady Pioneers ended the final six minutes of the game on a 12-5 run, with Berry scoring five points during the run, en route to the 64-59 victory.

Continued...

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