ELMIRA, NY - The Utica University women's basketball team fell 66-65 to Elmira College in a thrilling contest that went down to the wire.
 
Vanessa Hall (Whitesville, NY/Whitesville Central) led the squad with 19 points on 6-for-11 shooting including 2-for-4 from beyond the arc. Hall also grabbed three rebounds and dished out three dimes. Haley Burchhardt (Schenectady, NY/Schalmont) was phenomenal, dropping 17 points with six rebounds and two assists while shooting 3-for-5 from deep.
 
McKenzie Simmons (Red Hook, NY/Red Hook) scored eight points with three rebounds and three assists while Krissy Geraci (Rochester, NY/Greece Arcadia) added seven points and three boards. Hayleigh Lagase (Wallingford, CT/Mark T. Sheehan) and Julia Rotando (Cold Spring, NY/Haldane) each filled the stat sheet with the former dropping five points, five rebounds and three assists with the latter adding three points, six rebounds, and two assists.
 
The Pioneers got off to a hot start with Vanessa Hall (Whitesville, NY/Whitesville Central) converting an and-one layup to give the team a quick 3-0 lead. Utica kept attacking and scoring with McKenzie Simmons (Red Hook, NY/Red Hook) and Haley Burchhardt (Schenectady, NY/Schalmont) each scoring a layup and Hall tacked on another converted and-one to give the team a 10-5 lead halfway through the frame. More buckets by Burchhardt and Hall aided the team in taking a 15-7 edge at the 4:32 mark. Elmira started to claw back yet Utica held a 23-16 lead after one quarter of play.
 
Neither team allowed a bucket for the first two minutes of the second, yet Hayleigh Lagase (Wallingford, CT/Mark T. Sheehan) converted a pretty and-one to get the party started. The Soaring Eagles cut the Pioneers lead to just 25-22 but Utica responded with a few buckets. Lagase canned a late triple, yet Elmira hit a pair of free throws to trail just 31-30 at the half.
 
Krissy Geraci (Rochester, NY/Greece Arcadia) had a fantastic start to the third quarter with a layup followed by a beautiful and-one to extend Utica's advantage to 36-30 not even a minute into the second half. Elmira used a four-point scoring run to trail by just two, but Burchhardt made another nifty layup. The Soaring Eagles took a 41-38 lead at the 4:17 mark yet Utica battled back as Burchhardt canned a triple to tie the game at 43-43. Elmira used a scoring run to lead 49-44 after three quarters of action.
 
Burchhardt hit a three-pointer to begin the scoring in the fourth and cut the Elmira lead to just 49-46. The teams exchanged buckets with the Soaring Eagles grasping a 53-49 lead yet another triple by Burchhardt cut the deficit to just one. Elmira took another three-point edge yet a clutch McKenzie Simmons (Red Hook, NY/Red Hook) deep range shot knotted the nailbiter at 55-55 at the 4:57 mark. The teams each exchanged a pair of three-pointers, and it was going down to the wire with the game still tied at 62-62 with just over 90 seconds left. McKenzie Simmons (Red Hook, NY/Red Hook) hit a clutch deep three-pointer out of a timeout to tie the game once again at 65-65 with just 10 seconds left. The Soaring Eagles hit a free throw to hold a slim 66-65 edge with just three seconds to play and held on for the narrow Empire 8 victory.
 
Utica (4-10, 1-4 Empire 8) will continue its road trip and battle Alfred University on Saturday, January 20 at 2 p.m.