Pittsford, NY–Top seeded St. John Fisher College collected the program's fifth league championship after beating second seeded Sage on Saturday evening, 74-53. With the win, the Cardinals improve to 21-6 riding an eight-game win streak as they captured the league's automatic bid to the 2020 NCAA Division III Championship. Sage, which was making the program's first appearance in the Empire 8 championship game, finishes the season with a 15-12 record.
SJFC was paced by the play of Amy Gardner as she added 27 points with four assists. She was joined in double-digit scoring by Miranda Lynch, who had 21 points with dive assists. Gardner made 8-of-12 shots from the floor with a 6-8 effort from three-point range. Lynch was 7-13 with three baskets from beyond the arch.
The contest was the final appearance in a Sage uniform for three Gators, graduate players Megan Flynn (Hoosick Falls, NY/Hoosick Falls Central) and Kaitlyn Bowman (Chateaugay, NY/Saranac) and senior guard Gessica Patregnani (Troy, NY/Lansingburgh).
Flynn finished the game with 12 points and added six rebounds with three steals. A team captain this season and an Empire 8 First Team honoree, she wraps her stellar career with 877 points, 684 rebounds, 44 blocked shots and a 51.9% field goal percentage in 86 appearances. She is the program's 12th all-time leading scorer while standing fifth in career rebounds and tied for eighth in blocked shots. On the 2019-2020 season, she was the team's high scorer eight times, while also leading the team in rebounding 18 times. She added 12 double-double on the year and wraps her career with 19 double-doubles.
Bowman finished with four points in the contest with three rebounds and an assist. She finishes her time at Sage with 1,017 career points which is eighth. With her start on Saturday, she broke Sage's career appearance mark with her 109th appearance in a Gator uniform, breaking the record held by Frankie Pearson (2013-2017) with 108 games played. Bowman also finishes with 794 career rebounds as she moved past Amie Jefferson (788, 2014-2018) on Saturday. She added 310 career assists which is fourth all-time and also finished No. 3 in career free throws made (375).
Patregnani added 11 points in the contest with three baskets from downtown and added three assists with a blocked block. Over the course of her career, Patregnani scored 156 career three's, which is No. 4 at Sage, while also finishing with 729 points and is now No. 18 on the career scoring list. She also added a 39.1% career three-point percentage and added a 45.4% this season, which is the second best effort in the Gator single-season record book. She also played in 103 games at Sage which is sixth best at Sage.
Sophomore guard Sammy Pasinella (Troy, NY/Mechanicville) finished with eight points with three assists and a steal, while Madasyn Bush (Pottersville, NY/North Warren Central) added 10 points and was co-high rebounder with sophomore Kyra Oeffler (Green Island, NY/Heatly) as they both had seven rebounds in the game.
