ALBANY, NY - The Utica University women's basketball team beat Russell Sage College 58-55 on Saturday afternoon in thrilling fashion to pick up an Empire 8 victory.
 
Vanessa Hall (Whitesville, NY/Whitesville Central) shined once again, leading the Pioneers with 21 points and nine boards while also hitting a clutch triple late in the game. Haley Burchhardt (Schenectady, NY/Schalmont) poured in 13 points with eight rebounds and was a menace on defense with one block and two steals.
 
Krissy Geraci (Rochester, NY/Greece Arcadia) turned in a great performance, scoring eight points with nine rebounds and going 4-for-5 from the field. Hope Halvarson (Cranston, RI/Cranston East) had eight points, four rebounds, and two steals in the contest. 
 
The teams each exchanged a pair of buckets to begin the match 4-4 before Sage nailed a triple to grab a slim 7-4 edge at the 6:54 mark. A Geraci layup had Utica down 9-8 before the Gators had a small scoring run to lead 17-9. Yet the Pioneers rallied to trail just 17-12 after the first quarter of action.
 
Utica used a 7-0 run to take a 19-17 lead after a three-pointer from Halvarson and buckets from Hayleigh Lagase (Wallingford, CT/Mark T. Sheehan) and Burchhardt. The Gators rallied to grab a brief 23-21 advantage at the 4:05 mark and used a late free throw to knot the score at 24-24 at the half.
 
Jumpers by Hall and Burchhardt gave the Pioneers a 28-24 lead to begin the second half and the team pushed it to 33-27 at the 7:12 mark. Sage rallied hitting multiple jumpers to cut the lead to just 37-36 but the Utica offense continued to be clutch and produce and held a 43-30 lead after the third quarter.
 
A Halvarson and-one extended the lead to 46-40 yet the Gators would not go down easily trailing just 46-45 at the 8:04 mark. The teams exchanged buckets with Utica holding onto its slim lead before the Gators tied the match at 52-52 and hit a clutch three-pointer to take a 55-52 lead with under three minutes left. However, Hall canned a deep triple to even the score at 55-55 and hit a layup to put the team up 57-55 in the waning moments. Utica rallied to secure a 58-55 Empire 8 victory in thrilling fashion.
 
Utica (6-14, 3-8 Empire 8) will travel to face (RV) St. John Fisher University on Tuesday, February 6 at 5:30 p.m.