The Utica College women's basketball team snapped a five game winning streak on Tuesday night after a 68-63 loss to Empire 8 Conference rival Ithaca College on the hardwood at the Clark Athletic Center. Junior forward Jessica Berry, who ranks fourth nationally in average points per game, scored 29 and grabbed six rebounds. Classmate Devon Croll added 13 points and dished out five assists. The loss marked the first conference defeat of the season for the Pioneers (10-3, 4-1 E8).

After trailing by six at halftime the Pioneers used a 12-4 run in the first 5:03 of the second half to knot the score at 50-50 with 14:57 to go in the contest. After a two minute scoring drought for both teams freshman Meghan Fiore scored four straight points to give the Pioneers a three point lead with 8:06 left in regulation.

The Pioneers could only connect on 2-of-14 shots in the final 8:06 of play as the Bombers earned the five point victory.

Junior Stephanie Nara scored eight points and dished out three assists for UC on the evening and three other Pioneers scored three points in the loss.

Katherine Bixby netted a team-high 19 points and added seven assists while Ithaca improved to 10-4 overall and 5-0 in the conference. Elissa Klie added 11 points and nine rebounds, while Jane Debiasse scored eight points off the bench.

After shooting 56% from 3-point land (5-of-9) in the first half the Pioneers went cold from behind the arc in the final 20 minutes shooting a dismal 6.7% (1-for-15).
UC returns to action on Saturday when they travel to Hartwick College for a conference contest at 2 p.m. Ithaca returns home for four games in a row starting with Alfred on Friday night at 6 p.m.

                         --- www.ucpioneers.com ---