The women’s basketball team kept its record at .500 this week after splitting a pair of games against Elmira College and St. John Fisher College. The team is now 7–7 on the year and 4–2 in the Empire 8 Conference.
After winning three of four games to kick off the 2016 portion of their season, the Bombers secured their fourth straight win Jan. 12 at home 90–56 against Elmira. They continued to improve their shooting by hitting 45.7 percent of their shots from the field, bringing their season percentage up to 39.1. This was one of the few times this season that the team was able to find their stroke from behind the arc, shooting 43.5 percent.
The Blue and Gold took control of the game from the beginning leading 26–11 after the first quarter, and they were leading by 24 points at halftime. The South Hill squad dominated the Soaring Eagles in the first half, hitting eight threes and forcing seven turnovers. They also bested Elmira on the backboard, winning the rebound battle 24–19 in the first 20 minutes.
The Bombers’ leading scorer was junior forward Shayna Gaskins, who scored 14 points in 16 minutes of play along with four rebounds and one assist. Other top scorers for the Bombers included junior guard Alison Ricchiuti with 12 points and junior forward Erin Ferguson and sophomore Allison Spaschak with 11 points each. Ferguson was one rebound away from a double-double for the game, notching nine boards.
Elmira’s leading scorers were junior guard Danielle Cleary and freshman forward-guard Rachel Vespucci, who each put up 16 points en route to the loss.
The Blue and Gold were not able carry their momentum into their next game against St. John Fisher on Jan. 16, losing 63–51. The Bombers were down for almost the entire game. They last led when the score was 4–2.
Despite losing, the Bombers shot better than the Cardinals, hitting 39.6 percent of their shots and 35.7 percent of their threes. St. John Fisher only shot 38.5 percent from the field and 20.8 percent from behind the arc.
Senior captain Keri Steele led the way for the South Hill squad with 13 points and four rebounds. The only other player in double figures was freshman guard Anna Giannone, who dropped 11.
Free throws and rebounding were the Bombers’ downfalls as they were outrebounded by 12, including six offensive rebounds that the Cardinals turned into 19 second chance points. Ithaca only had five rebounds. From the charity stripe, the Cardinals made 18 of 22 shots while the Bombers only made eight of 15.
The leading scorer for St. John Fisher was junior guard Emily Piacentini who put up 13 points including three 3-pointers.
The Bombers will look to bounce back from this loss Jan. 19 when they travel to New York City for an out of conference matchup with Baruch College.
