ONEONTA, NY - The Utica University women's basketball team beat Hartwick College 53-37 on Saturday afternoon. The win was Utica's first Empire 8 victory of the season and broke a two game losing skid.
 
Utica started the game off with a 2-0 edge after a Krissy Geraci (Rochester, NY/Greece Arcadia) layup. The game was tied at 4-4 before the Pioneers jumped out to an 11-6 lead after a Kimberly Soriano (Queens, NY/Monsignor McClancy Memorial) three-pointer via a beautiful pass from Petrina DeMarco (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro). Made free throws from Haley Burchhardt (Schenectady, NY/Schalmont) and Kelsey Carter (Shamong, NJ/Seneca) helped Utica take a 16-11 lead into the second frame.
 
Hartwick struck quickly with a three-pointer, yet Utica answered with a Soriano jumper to push the lead to 18-13 just over one minute into the second quarter. Buckets by Geraci, Burchhardt, and Stack aided the Pioneers to a 24-13 advantage thanks to a 6-0 scoring run. The Pioneers were up 27-15 and its defense held strong only allowing three points the last five minutes of the quarter to take a 27-18 lead into the half.
 
The Hawks came out of the break with a 4-0 scoring run to cut the Pioneer lead to just 27-22. Buckets by Geraci and Burchhardt extended the lead back to 31-22 just three minutes into the third quarter. Hartwick would not go away and kept the Pioneer lead to single digits halfway through the frame. After the Hawks cut the lead to seven, a pair of Hannah Stack (Dolgeville, NY/Dolgeville) layups and a DeMarco jumper aided Utica in taking a 42-30 edge into the fourth frame.
 
The fourth quarter was all Pioneers as the team shot lights out and played stellar defense. Utica went on a 9-0 scoring run to jump out to a 53-32 edge just over three minutes into the frame. The Pioneers cruised the rest of the quarter and won the contest 53-37, collecting its first Empire 8 win of the season. 
 
Burchhardt led the team with sixteen points and shot an efficient 50% from the field while collecting seven rebounds and five steals. DeMarco played phenomenal as she was able to set up the offense with ease. DeMarco scored seven points, grabbed six rebounds, and had a season-high 10 assists. Soriano had another strong performance hauling in nine boards and five points.
 
Utica (5-2, 1-1 Empire 8), will return home to host Wells College on Thursday, December 8 at 6 p.m.