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Utica, NY - The Utica College women's basketball team (8-7, 4-2 Empire 8) prepares to host Nazareth College (7-8, 3-3 Empire 8) Friday in an Empire 8 match-up at Clark Athletic Center. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m.

The Pioneers are coming off back-to-back road wins against conference rivals RIT and Hartwick. UC has won four of their last five games, all in conference, outscoring opponents by a margin of 17 points in those four victories.

The Golden Flyers are coming off a six-point overtime loss to St. John Fisher on Tuesday. They also lost to Ithaca, 61-59, as well as Stevens, 55-42. Nazareth's victories came against Hartwick, RIT, and Elmira by an average of 3.3 points per contest.

On the season, Utica is averaging 64.5 points per contest while allowing 58.5 points per game, well enough for a +6 scoring margin. UC leads the conference in field goal percentage (.472) and assists (17.13 apg) and is also second in scoring (65.2 ppg) and free throw percentage (.732).

The squad is led by senior All-American Jessica Berry (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy) who currently leads the conference in scoring (20.7 ppg) and rebounds (11.2 rpg), averaging a double-double. Berry also leads the conference in steals averaging 3.27 per contest and has 49 total. She ranks 11 nationally in scoring with 21.3 points per game.

Sophomore Meghan Fiore (Epping, NH/Epping) has made a solid transition into her starting role averaging 16.3 points per game, second on the team and fourth in the conference. Fiore leads the team in field goal percentage (.594), good enough for second in the conference.

Following Friday's game, the Pioneers will have nine conference games remaining, including six on the road. The following week, Friday, Jan. 28, UC will travel to Hoboken, NJ to challenge Stevens Institute of Technology in game two of the season series. Stevens beat Utica earlier this season, 44-37, on Dec. 10 in the team's conference opener in Utica.