ROCHESTER, NY – The Utica College women's basketball team lost its fourth straight Empire 8 contest Saturday afternoon, 85-59, to host St. John Fisher at the Manning & Napier Varsity Gymnasium.

The Pioneers drop to 9-12 overall while falling to 5-7 in Empire 8 play. Utica returns home Tuesday to welcome Hartwick College to the Clark Athletic Center for a 6 p.m. set tip.

UC battled over the first three minutes trailing by just two points, 7-5, at the 17 minute mark.  That would be as close as Utica would get however as the conference leading Cardinals began to pull away. Fisher ratted off 12 straight points, over the next four minutes, to take a 19-5 lead with 13:40 remaining in the first half.

SJF would continue its stretch working to a 17 point advantage, 28-11, at the halfway point and went on to close out the first half of action with a commanding 27 point cushion, 47-20. Fisher's Mary Kate Cusack and Lunden Cunningham led the first half charge for the Cardinals combining for 23 points while Samantha Stayer (Allegany, NY/Allegany-Limestone) netted six for the Pioneers.

The Pioneers came out of the locker room and fought hard aa they traded baskets with Fisher over the first 10 minutes of second half action, each scoring 18 points. However, the home Cardinals still maintained a 27 point advantage, 65-38, with a little over 10 minuutes to play. SJF went on to secure the victory by 26 points handing the Pioneers their fourth straight conference defeat.

UC fell behind big in the first half shooting a dismal 22.5% from the floor compared to Fisher's 50.0% outing. Utica outshot the Cardinals in the second half, but only by a mere one percent (46.43%-45.45%). The Pioneers went 0-for-6 from downtown and 19-for-30 from the foul line in the loss.

Bridget Greenwald (Wayne, NJ/Wayne Hills), Samantha Stayer (Allegany, NY/Allegany-Limestone) and Ashelyne Babb (Lynn, MA/Winthrop) combined for 43 of the Pioneers 59 points led by Greenwald's double-double. Greenwald netted 19 points and grabbed a game-high 14 boards. Stayer and Babb chipped in with 12 apiece.

Four Cardinals, led by Cusack's game-high 21 point effort, combined for 62 of Fisher's 85 points. Emily Piacentini had 15 while Cunningham added 14 and Portia Velasco chipped in with 12.

The Cardinals improve to 14-5 on the season as well as 7-3 in league play and remain home for next Friddayy when they host Elmira on Friday Feb 6^{th (6 p.m.).}