UTICA, NY – The Utica College women's basketball team kicks off the spring semester with two Empire 8 Conference road games, taking on Houghton College at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Alfred University at 4 p.m. on Saturday.

Last Time Out: The Pioneers split a pair of conference contests at home last weekend, falling to St. John Fisher 66-53 on Friday, before rebounding in an 89-79 matchup with Nazareth on Saturday. In the battle with the Cardinals, UC was undone by a second half push. Senior Nicolette Conkin (Los Altos, CA/Homestead) was strong in the meeting, posting a team-best 21 points and six assists while grabbing five rebounds.

In Saturday's victory over the Golden Flyers, Conkin proved dominant once again, this time collecting a career-best 33 points. She also tallied seven assists and five steals. After accumulating 12 assists over the span, the Los Altos, CA native is now ranked fifth on the Pioneers all-time assists list with 303.  Petrina DeMarco (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) also posted a career-best in points with 20, going 6-for-11 beyond the arc, while Sydney Przygoda (Freehold, NJ/Freehold) grabbed her seventh double-double of the season on 20 points and 10 rebounds.  

Ranking Nationally: Conkin continues to rank among the top-2 in the nation in assists, just one behind the leader, with a season total of 108. She also ranks second in assists per game, averaging 6.8. Przygoda finds herself ranked ninth in the country in field goal percentage with a mark of .607 (116-for-191).
 
Scouting Houghton: The Highlanders find themselves at the bottom of the conference with a 0-4 record, 2-13 overall. They faced off with Elmira and Hartwick last weekend, dropping the battle with the Soaring Eagles 72-71 in overtime on Friday and 77-48 with the Hawks on Saturday. In Friday's overtime loss Cori Beck posted 14 points, with 10 coming in the extra period. She also contributed 10 assists, four rebounds and four steals en route to her double-double. On Saturday, Emie Taylor collected a team-best 12 points and seven rebounds.
Taylor leads the squad in rebounds per game (8.5), field goals made (69) and blocks per game (1.3). Beck sits on top of the assists categories, collecting bests in total assists (76) and assists per game (5.1).
 
Scouting Alfred: The Saxons are also struggling this season, finding themselves with a 0-4 conference record, 4-11 overall. They also fell to the Hawks and Soaring Eagles last weekend, dropping a 71-59 contest at Hartwick on Friday and a 59-58 matchup at Elmira on Saturday. Bri Hicks and Gillian Flint attempted to fuel their squad offensively against 'Wick, the former posting 15 points, the latter 14 points and seven rebounds. Freshman Ana Ion contributed 10 points and three steals. In Saturday's loss, Ion led the team with a season-best 16 points, also adding five rebounds.
 
Conference Nods: Conkin was named the Empire 8 Player of the Week while Ion was tabbed the Rookie of the Week for their performances last weekend. For the Pioneers, Conkin averaged 27.0 points per game over a pair contests. Ion averaged 13.0 points per game, 4.5 rebounds and 2.0 steals.

Leading the Empire 8: UC leads the conference in points per game (75.2), total points scored (1,203) and scoring margin (14.1), ranking third overall based on in-conference record. For UC, Conkin continues to lead the conference in seven different categories; assists (108), assists per game (6.8), steals (55), steals per game (3.4), made threes (43), three-point percentage (.339) and made threes per game (2.7). The guard also ranks second in scoring (301 points), points per game (18.8) and made field goals (107). Przygoda boasts the best field goal percentage in the league (.607). The sophomore finds herself the runner-up in four categories; points (289), points per game (18.1), rebounds (174) and rebounds per game (10.9). Freshman Kristine Miller (Red Hook, NY/Red Hook) ranks second in the blocks (23) and blocks per game (1.4) columns.
 
For Houghton, Taylor ranks second in field goal percentage with a mark of .580, while ranking third in offensive rebounds and offensive rebounds per game, with tallies of 54 and 3.6, respectively. She also ranks fifth in total rebounds per game, averaging 8.5. Beck finds herself ranked second in assists and assists per game.
 
Up Next: After this weekend UC returns to Miga Court for a midweek conference game with Hartwick, scheduled for 7:30 pm on Tuesday.