In their three games this season, the women’s basketball team and Stevens Institute of were separated by a total of five points. After the Bombers defeated Stevens by two on Jan. 25, and one point on Feb. 10, the Ducks finally got revenge Saturday night. Their 59–57 victory came at the most important time – the Empire 8 Championship.

The final game was no different than the previous two. Each featured an extremely high level of play, and was decided by the athletes making clutch baskets in the last minute. Head to head, the aggregate final score of the three games was 167–166 in favor of Ithaca.

The final Stevens win once again came in the last minute, as Stevens guard Dani Dudek scored a jumper in the lane to give it the lead it needed to finish the game with a win.

“I thought we were very evenly matched,” sophomore Jordan Confessore said. “One play could have made a difference.”

This time, one player in particular made that difference. While many would expect that person to be Dudek, the reigning Empire 8 Player of the Year, a new face burst on the scene. Stevens freshman guard Melissa Collier showed no lack of experience, hurting the Bombers with 19 points and seven rebounds en route to being named tournament MVP.

Her emergence proved to be too much for the Bombers, who already had to shut down one scorer in Dudek. They even had to switch defensive stopper senior Megan Rumschik off of Dudek mid game to shut down Collier.

“When stopping one player isn’t enough to beat them, you know you are playing a good team,” Rumschik said. “It was a beating physically and mentally.”

That all-around talent was something the Bombers did not have to worry about in their first game against St. John Fisher College, which they soundly defeated 73–59 Friday.

“Fisher only had one player who we needed to shut down to win,” Rumschik said. “Stevens has five great players on their team.”

 Preparing for the two different teams though, did provide a challenge because of the different styles of play. Unlike Fisher, Stevens liked to slow the ball down and work out of the half court offense, which was used to get Collier and Dudek driving to the basket. The slower pace hurt Ithaca’s offense a little bit, as they were unable to consistently push the ball up the court in transition of both made and missed shots.

The Blue and Gold battled the entire way though, and were able to score with great help from the bench in the form of Confessore. Her career high 17 points on 5–8 shooting led the team.

Junior guard Katherine Bixby followed her 23-point performance against Fisher with 16 points in the loss.

In both cases, the notion that it is extremely difficult to beat a team three times in one season proved to be true.

“We had beaten [Stevens] twice this season already,” Confessore said. “We pulled the other two out, and they were able to this time.”

After finishing their conference season in first place, the Bomber faces were filled with disappointment after the final half court heave fell short.

“It’s hard to watch a team celebrate like that, especially when the game is so close,” Confessore said. “It was not how we thought it would turn out.”