AU women’s basketball team rallies past Elmira

ALFRED, NY - The Alfred University women’s basketball team earned its first Empire 8 Conference victory of the year Saturday afternoon, defeating visiting Elmira 65-57 in the Saxons’ season finale.

The Saxons (8-17, 1-13 Empire 8) trailed 26-23 at intermission despite playing the majority of the half without leading scorer, sophomore forward Grace Williamson (Olean, NY/Olean), who went to the bench with her third foul with 13 minutes remaining in the period.

Williamson had seven points and a pair of blocks when she left the floor and came back in the second half to finish with a game-high 18 points and 13 rebounds.

AU shot just 32 percent from the floor in the first half and had nine turnovers, but remained close as the visiting Soaring Eagles made only 25 percent of their shots and tallied five turnovers of their own. AU made all six free throw attempts in the first half, while Elmira (8-17, 4-10 Empire 8) connected on six of 10 foul shots.

In the second half, Alfred shot 44 percent from the floor and ourebounded Elmira 22-12 after intermission. The Saxons held Elmira to 33 percent shooting in the second half and 29 percent for the game.

Sophomore forward Sarah Federico (Buffalo, NY/Holy Angels) joined Williamson in turning in a double-double for AU, finishing with 16 points and 12 boards. Freshman guard Harley Cleary (Rochester, NY/Mercy) narrowly missed a double-double of her own, scoring 16 points with nine rebounds. She also had a game-high six assists.

In the final games of their AU careers, senior guard Kacey Kwiecien (Perry, NY/Perry) had six points and four assists and senior guard Christina Jordan (Cornwall-on-the-Hudson, NY/Cornwall) had five points and an assist.

Jessica Zoltowski led Elmira with 17 points, six rebounds, four assists and a pair of steals. Liz Forrest added 14 points and seven boards and Kelsey Geisler netted nine points.