Box l Updated stats
UTICA, N.Y. -- The defensive pressure from Utica prevented the visiting Golden Flyers from establishing their offensive rhythm, which led to the Pioneers defeating the Golden Flyers 64-40 in an Empire 8 women's basketball game on Saturday afternoon. Junior Lindsey Kelly finished with a team-high 16 points for Nazareth.

With the loss, the Golden Flyers slip to 8-6 overall and 3-2 in Empire 8 games. Despite the loss, Nazareth has still won five of its last seven contests. The victory is Utica's fourth in a row. Following the win, the Pioneers improve to 8-8 overall and 4-3 in conference contests.

In Saturday's game, the Golden Flyers claimed the early lead in the opening minutes. After both teams struggled to get on the board to begin the game, junior Sam Sorge broke the scoreless tie 4:10 into regulation with a two-point jumper. Following a Utica free throw, senior Maria Allocco made a layup to stretch Nazareth's lead to three. Kelly added a layup to reclaim the Golden Flyers' three-point edge after two more Pioneers' free throws.

Following Kelly's bucket, however, Nazareth experienced a scoring drought lasting over nine minutes, which allowed Utica to use an 18-1 scoring run to take a 21-7 lead. Kelly returned the Golden Flyers' deficit to single digits before halftime with a layup to cut the Pioneers' lead to 28-20 at the break.

In the opening minute of the second half, Kelly received a pass from Sorge to convert a scoring chance in the paint to trim the deficit to six points. The Pioneers answered with 15 of the next 16 points in a span of less than four minutes to take a commanding 43-23 lead with just over 15 minutes to play. With the Golden Flyers struggling to connect on their shots, the Pioneers maintained a lead of near 20 points for the remainder of the contest.

Utica built its lead with intense defensive pressure as Nazareth was forced into 21 total turnovers, which the Pioneeers scored 26 points off of. The Golden Flyers were also held to less than 32 percent (7-22) on their field goals including about 14 percent (1-7) on three-point attempts in the first. Nazareth fared about the same statistically in the second half as they connected on 33 percent (8-24) of their shots from the field and 20 percent (2-10) from outside the arc. By comparison, Nazareth connected on almost 50 percent (33-67) of its field goals on Friday night against Alfred, including 11-20 (55 percent) on three-point shots.

In addition to the scoring by Kelly, Sorge recorded nine points and junior Veronica Peck had five points. Freshman Samantha Peebles added four points while Allocco, Hannah Runyon, and Hayley Spoljaric each chipped in two points. Allocco and Kelly combined for 17 of the Golden Flyers' 37 rebounds.

Mary Miceli and Samantha Stayer tallied 16 points and 15 points, respectively, for Utica. Bridget Greenwald collected a game-high 13 boards to give the Pioneers a 46-37 advantage in total rebounds. Utica committed only seven turnovers.

Nazareth is in action again on January 20th when the Golden Flyers host Elmira in another Empire 8 contest.