UTICA, NY – The Utica College women's basketball team outscored host St. John Fisher 39-34 in the second half, but the Pioneers comeback bid fell short, as the Cardinals earned the 67-57 Empire 8 Conference victory on Saturday afternoon. UC's Ashelyne Babb (Lynn, MA/Winthrop) led the Pioneers with 20 points, five rebounds and two steals in the loss.

Utica's record moved to 6-14 overall and 4-7 in Empire 8 Conference action. Fisher improved to 10-10 overall and 7-4 in Empire 8 play.  Utica remains on the road Tuesday for game two of a four game conference road trip when it squares off against Hartwick College at 6 p.m.

The Pioneers jumped out to a 9-8 lead with 1:36 left in the first quarter of action after a layup by Babb.  Fisher closed out the quarter with a 3-point bucket from Erin Hulbert to earn an 11-9 lead after 10 minutes of action.

The Cardinals used a 15-2 run in the first 7:17 of the second quarter to take a commanding 15 point lead, 26-11.  UC could not cut into its deficit and trailed 33-18 at the half.

The Pioneers slowly chipped away at the Cardinal lead and trailed by as few as eight with 26 seconds left in the third quarter after Alaina Tripp (Clyde, NY/Clyde-Savannah) converted a layup. Tripp finished the night with 11 points for Utica.

A slow start to the fourth quarter for UC helped the home team push its lead back up to as many as 17 points with 3:57 to go in regulation. Utica was able to outscore Fisher 14-7 in the final four minutes of action but the comeback bid proved to be too late as the Cardinals came away with the ten point victory.

Fisher did a nice job containing Utica leading scorer Ashley Mayo (Nanuet, NY/Nanuet), holding the junior point guard to seven points on the evening.  Mayo added six rebounds and two steals. Maggie Tabone (Rochester, NY/Churchville-Chili) came off the bench and made 3-of-4 field goals to post a season-high eight points to go along with six rebounds for the Pioneers.

Chelsea Repard netted a game-high 23 points for the Cardinals, while Erin Hulbert added 11 points. Nicole Robinson grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds and also totaled five points to go along with four blocks.

The Cardinals made nine 3-pointers on the evening, including six from Repard. Utica's second half push was due in large part to a 15-for-27 shooting effort from the floor in the final 20 minutes.