ONEONTA, N.Y. – Russell Sage College never trailed in this evening's 66-53 road Empire 8 Conference victory at Hartwick. The road triumph secured the Gators, now winners of eight of their past ten, the five seed in the E8 Championship Tournament. RSC will play at Nazareth, seeded fourth, in Saturday's Quarterfinal round.
RSC (11-14/9-7 E8) shot 44.6 percent from the field and had three players score in double figures.
Senior guard Malena Gereau (Schroon Lake, NY/Schroon Lake Central) led all players with 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting. The co-captain topped playoff-bound RSC, which led by as many as 19, with six boards.
Senior guard Lauren Sanderson (Ravena, NY/Ravena-Coyemans-Selkirk) contributed 12 points on 50.0 percent shooting and three assists, while junior guard Layla Acosta (Haines City, FL/Haines City) added 11 points and four steals.
Senior guard Daniella DeBiase paced Hartwick (6-18/4-12 E8) with 13 points on 4-of-8 shooting.
Gator Bites with Papa John's: With a February 8 win at Utica, the Gators clinched their fifth appearance in the Empire 8 Conference Championship Tournament…RSC will play in the Quarterfinal round on Saturday, February 22…RSC finished the regular season by winning eight of its final ten games to secure a playoff berth…The season marked the first with Michael Branche as the Head Coach of RSC Women's Basketball…He had been an assistant women's basketball coach since July 2020…12 players, making up just shy of 94 percent of the team scoring returned for the Gators…The dozen combine with five newcomers on this year's squad…RSC finished the regular season with seven of its last eight games away from home…Gereau, Acosta, and Sanderson headline the returning Gators…Acosta was announced as the E8 Player of the Week for the period ending Sunday, February 9…She averaged 20.3 points on 45.8 percent shooting to help RSC clinch a spot in the Conference Tournament with a 3-0 week...The junior commenced the week ranked eighth in the E8 in scoring at 13.9 points per-game…She began the week leading the Conference in free throw percentage…Sophomore forward Kallie Hopkins (Millsboro, DE/Poly Tech) started the weekend leading RSC in rebounding a 7.9, good for fifth in E8…Senior guard Olivia Huneau (Cohoes, NY/Cohoes), Sanderson, and Gereau were voted captains of the team.
