Albany, NY- The Sage Colleges' women's basketball team hosted Cardinals of St. John Fisher College Saturday afternoon in the final Empire 8 regular-season contest of the year. Sage held a 22-20 lead at the half, but the Cardinals outscored Sage 30-8 in the third quarter en route to the 66-47 road win over the Gators. With the win, St. John Fisher College improves to 20-5 with a 15-1 record in the Empire 8 to win the regular-season title. The loss puts Sage at 18-7 overall and 12-4 in the league.
The loss was the first home loss for the Gators after a 10-0 mark entering the game and snaps Sage's six-game win streak. For Sage's 18 wins this season is tied for the third most in school history with the 2014-2015 team which went 18-8 under the guidance of Head Coach Allison Coleman in her first season at Sage.
St. John Fisher earned the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Empire 8 Championship and will host the league's tournament next weekend, February 23-24. The tournament champion will garner the league's automatic qualifier to the 2018 NCAA Division III Tournament.
For St. John Fisher, senior guard Caroline Robertson (Glen head, NY/North Shore) poured in 20 points after making 9-of-15 shots from the floor with three assists, two assists and two steals. The Cardinals added a 67.9% shooting performance in the second half, converting 19-0f-28 shots after shooting just 35.7% (10-28) in the first half. Joining Robertson in double-digit scoring was senior forward Nicole Robertson (Lawrence NY/Lawrence) with 18 points, six rebounds, three assists, three blocks and two steals. She hit 8-of-12 shots from the floor for the Cardinals.
Sage honored their two seniors prior to the contest in conjunction with Senior Day. They are senior forwards Gen Schoff (Little Falls, NY/Little Falls) and Alyssa Nellis (Johnstown, NY/Johnstown).
Schoff added a team-leading 16 points in the action and made 8-11 from the free throw line with six rebounds. She is the program's No. 2 all-time player in points, rebounds, blocks and game played. Schoff has racked up 1,374 points, 857 rebounds, 124 blocks and has played in 105 games. She has scored double-digits in 72 of those games played, while making a program-best 399 free throws.
Nellis, a two-sport performer at Sage having also led the women's volleyball team for four years, has played in 43 games on the hardwood and today added one point.
Junior guard Emily Parslow (Fonda, NY/Fonda-Fultonville) finished with seven points, while junior guard Kaitlyn Bowman (Dannemora, NY/Saranac) connected for nine rebounds with six points. Sophomore forward Megan Flynn (Hoosick Falls, NY/Hoosick Falls Central) added nine rebounds with four points.
Parlsow now has 955 career points putting her in the No. 7 spot, while adding a single-season 71 three-pointers this year. She is now second in the Gator career three-point record category with 168. Bowman has 701 career points and is now tied for 15th on the scoring list. Her 572 stands sixth best on the career list.
Sage is back in action on February 23 in the Empire 8 semifinals at 6 p.m. against the No. 3 seed Stevens. SJFC will take on the No. 4 seed Friday at 8 p.m. and the two semifinal winners will meet Saturday at SJFC at 4 p.m.